


A Father’s Hate

by Bellatrix_Wannabe_89



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Pre-Regina's First Dark Curse, The Enchanted Forest, Underworld (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2019-05-26 17:42:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15006014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellatrix_Wannabe_89/pseuds/Bellatrix_Wannabe_89
Summary: Byron of Locksley was a cruel Lord obsessed with power. How his son grew up to be the most honorable man in all the realms was anyone's guess. Robin swore he would never speak to his father again but when they need his help in the Underworld, will they be able to get over the hatred they have for one another or will this family reunion end with Robin joining his father in death?





	1. Chapter 1

**The Enchanted Forest, Fifteen Years Before the First Curse**

The peasants and noblemen who lived in this corner of the realm had a saying.

It was said that Lord Byron had smiled twice in all forty years he had been on this earth.

Once when his father Lord Mason had passed on, leaving all of his lands and titles to his only son, and the other was when he found out he had been left all the gold as well.

'Warm' was not a word anyone with sense would describe Byron as. His ocean blue eyes remained hard and stoic and over the years his dark hair had receded into a sharp widows peak, giving him an even more stern and severe look.

He was often times compared to iron; he was hard, cold, unyielding, and above all else, unforgiving.

"Please, M'lord Byron! Please, I know it's been a slow harvest, wot with the frost and all, but you have to give us more time!"

Byron glanced down at the desperate farmer from atop his horse, his brown rough spun clothes caked in earth and manure so unlike the lords rich green fabrics, the primary color of their most noble House.

"First off all, it's 'My lord', not 'M'lord'. Speak properly or don't speak at all. Secondly, this is the third notice I have given you and your family."

His voice was as cold as the rest of him. Proper and befitting a Lord, a voice that belonged to a man who knew his place and his duty in the world and knew how one's rank in life determined how one ought to be treated.

It was a voice that had never once uttered a laugh.

"If you haven't been able to raise your taxes by now-."

"Our son!" the farmer's wife cried desperately. "He just started work as the stable boy for Prince Henry and Princess Cora last week! He promised to send us all of his pay at the end of the month!"

"The end of the month is two weeks away," Byron informed them. "Your taxes are due in three days time. I have been far more fair and generous than you have deserved. You owe me $15,000 gold in the next three days or else I repossess your farm and you face eviction. You agreed to pay a certain amount of taxes every month to my family and I, you haven't paid your taxes in three months so, ergo, you are being evicted. That was the deal we made when you choose to live on my land, that is the deal we will keep."

The boy, all of sixteen years old, who sat on his own horse next to Byron, lifted his head up when the farmer's wife let out a sob, begging the unyielding older man to spare their farm. The boy spared a glance at the Farmers, his blue eyes full of apologetic sorrow for the couple.

It made no sense to the boy. These peasants lived on their land after all, wasn't it their responsibility to look after them, to protect them? How was taxing them to the point they could barely afford to survive looking after them? How was making them homeless after a hard winter that greatly disrupted the growing season not just for this individual family but all the farmers of The Enchanted Forest protecting them?

Where was the honor in this?

"Father," the boy spoke for the first time since they arrived, earning the lords attention. "Perhaps we could wait until the end of the month. If their son is sending them the gold, what's the harm in waiting?"

Byron looked at the boy sitting beside him, a storm brewing in his eyes that told his companion everything that he wanted to scream at him.

"Three days," Byron repeated without taking his eyes from the teenager who turned his sight towards the green of the land beneath his horses feet, a red blush creeping up on his face. "Either have the gold or be gone from my land."

Having nothing more of importance left to say, Byron rarely wasted precious words when they weren't needed, the lord kicked his stallion into a gallop and rode off down the dirt road back towards the manor far off in the distance.

The boy wanted to offer comfort to the terrified farmer and his sobbing wife but his nerves failed him. He had used up all of his courage to speak out against his father in front of the peasants.

He wished he could do more for them. He wished he could save them, he wished he could help them but he couldn't.

The boy was powerless to help anybody…

"My lord," the boy said with an awkward inclination of his head. "My lady."

Without waiting for a response the blue eyed son clicked his tongue and gently nudged the horse off in the direction his father had gone.

The boy easily caught up to his sullen father but instead of riding by his side he fell back some, as was his proper place.

The boy wasn't a Lord yet. He was Byron's only son and heir but for now his place was behind his father.

He watched as his father stared dead ahead and the worry in his heart grew. Every time his father took him out of the manor to assist him in the ins and outs of ruling over their land the ride back would be filled with the lessons that the boy was supposed to be learning about taxes, estates, business, land deeds and the like and he would take it all in, or try to at least.

This ride though his father's tongue was still, and the prospect of what that meant frightened him. While Lord Byron wasn't much of a talker, if he was without words entirely, that surely meant that whoever his anger was being directed at would have a hard time picking themselves up off the floor.

Ninety nine times out of a hundred the person who needed assistance to pick themselves up waa his wife Ada or their son.

Ada and Byron had a strange relationship. There wasn't even hatred between them, at least that would have made sense, but there was a chill in the air whenever he walked into a room she was already in.

The manor staff loved to gossip and spread the rumor that they had sex only one time in their seventeen year marriage on their wedding night. She had gotten pregnant, made him an heir on the first try, and that had been the last time they touched.

The boy despised rumors, especially ones involving his parents sex life, but the more he thought of it, the more he realized he truly had never seen them share a quick kiss or a warm embrace or even a simple handhold.

Ada sat beside him at the dinner table, the two of them not talking, after all how could Lord Byron discuss matters of state with a woman, but he was as cold and unfeeling with his wife as he was with the peasants.

It had been an arranged marriage. She was a beautiful but humble dark blonde woman from an equal standing, Lord Byron had refused any woman who was of lesser standing than he was who had met on the day of the wedding. When one of the guests asked him how he liked his new bride, Byron had simply said; "she'll do."

When they arrived back at their manner the boy followed his father into the stables where both of them dismounted their horses.

"Father," the boy said, his thickly accented voice trembling as he watched his father approach him. "I'm sorry, I-."

But what he was sorry about the world would never find out because at that moment Byron hit his son in his face as hard as he could.

"You DARE embarrass me in front of them?!" Another hit to the face. The boy winced but he would not cry out. If he made noise it meant his mother would hear and would come running out to save her son from the abuse which in turn meant she would receive the beating earmarked for the boy.

"How dare you, boy, how dare you!" Byron roared, hitting him again, this time hard enough that he fell to the hay covered wooden floor, a steady stream of blood running down the gash in his lip.

Always 'boy.' Never his name, not unless he was being introduced at formal events but even then only the name of his house was emphasized.

"Father, please," the boy begged, not for himself but for the peasants they had just left. "They said they were getting the money, if you could just wait two more weeks…"

The boy winced as his father grabbed the front of his doublet and hauled him off the ground.

"You do not tell me how to manage my lands, boy!" he shouted as he slammed him into one of the stables so hard it nearly took his breath away and hitting him so hard in the ear that he heard a ringing.

The boy could have fought back, could have broken his father's grasp, he was certainly strong enough and far younger than the Lord, but he would not fight back, he would not strike his father.

The boy would not dishonor himself.

Byron seemed to realize what he was doing and backed away from his son, straightening out his expertly tailored clothes.

His outbursts never lasted long. After a few beatings he returned to his hard stoic self in case any of the staff were lurking. Byron was a great many things but an emotional man he was not.

"Besides," Byron said, as if he hadn't just thrown his own son around like a rag doll. "Anyone dumb enough to choose to send their child off to work for that wench and her weak minded prince deserves to be without shelter."

It was no secret that Byron hated that particular branch of the royal family tree. It had started the day that Prince Henry had decided to marry a commoner, the daughter of a miller, all because she did some trick that turned straw into gold.

But it soon became clear that Cora was the one with all the power, even with her low birth. Henry was weak minded, far too kind to those he ruled over, far too lenient with the peasants.

Cora had been the one who merciless evicted those who couldn't pay their taxes, Cora was the one who invoked fear merely by a rumor that she would be appearing in a village, Cora was the one who walked down the street as if she owned the very cobblestones that were under her feet.

Byron believed that a woman should not be in that position. Her job should have been to make a male heir, she couldn't even do that properly, and to be silent and obedient when it came to everything else.

Instead she was the one who walked ahead of her husband while he lingered to speak and visit to those beneath him, promising to make their lives better.

There was also rumors that she used dark magic to keep the peasants in line. While Byron did appreciate the sentiment, he had always distrusted magic and those who practiced it.

But what had made him truly hate the Mills family was that a month ago Byron had tried to arrange the marriage between his son and Cora's daughter.

Though the two children had never met, Byron had his heart set on the young princess joining his family, giving them a wider stake of land and more allies.

A lot could be said about the commoner turned princess but she did manage to give birth to a breathtakingly gorgeous daughter, who was humble and obedient for the most part, but Cora had refused his offer with a scoff and a laugh.

As wealthy and as noble as Byron and his family was, they were not royalty. His son would always be a Lord, never a King, not unless Leopold was willing to marry his precious princess off to someone twice her age, which he was going to go try to arrange in these upcoming weeks.

So when Cora had told him that she was not about to send her daughter off to be some random Lords wife, Byron had stormed out of the manner, his eye catching the raven haired beauty in the stables sitting far too close to their newly hired stable boy who, the Lord just found out, was apparently the son of his tenants William and Rebecca Colter.

"You will never embarrass me like that in front of anyone ever again. Do you understand me, Boy?"

"Yes father."

Byron gave a curt nod as a sign he accepted the apology for his insolence.

Besides they had far too much to do to today to linger on his disrespect.

"Now come, Boy," Byron told his son. "It's time for your archery lessons."

...

**The Underworld, Present Day**

Robin Hood made sure to tell his son every day how much he loved him. He made sure to always use his son's name, an honorable proud name, whenever he spoke to the curly haired five year old, and he always made sure to hug him or pick him up or hold his hand at least once a day, just some physical touch to let the small child know just how much Robin cared for him.

He made sure he did the same with Henry. He clapped the boy on the back or put a hand on his shoulder. He was always 'Henry', never 'boy' or even 'Lad' like Killian likes to refer to him as. While Robin knew it was a sign of affection, a child's name was special. It meant something, it was supposed to give them pride and purpose.

That was why he hadn't named his daughter yet. It wasn't something that couldn't be thought of at the last moment but it had to reflect who she was as a person. It was a whole three months before Robin decided on the name 'Roland' for his son and it appeared that the second time around was no exception.

If Regina found the custom odd she didn't mention it nor did she seem to mind referring to the nameless child as 'your daughter'.

Robin missed his children. More than he had ever missed anything else in this world. But, he reminded himself as he poured himself and Regina a cup of tea from the steaming kettle in their underworld apartment, he had to help rescue Hook. He had to set an example of heroics and honor, of never backing out of a job no matter how hard it became.

"Think it's going okay?" asked Regina as Robin added in just the right amount of milk and sugar for her tastes. "They've been gone a while."

"Well I'm sure sneaking into the very bowels of the Underworld is quite a feat," he told her as he walked over to the couch and handed her the cup of tea. "They'll be back soon."

Without even thinking about it he reached over and took her hand as they sat there and drank their tea. As with his children, he always made sure to be affectionate with his Queen. An arm around her waist, a hand on the small of her back, a quick kiss whenever he left her…

He would be damned if she thought that he didn't care enough about her to even hold her hand.

Robin went to take another sip of tea when there were three sharp knocks on the front door.

"Who the hell is that?" Regina asked as she got up off the couch.

"Seems we have a visitor in our Underworld apartment," Robin said as he followed her to the front door and stood beside her. She looked into the peephole, her confusion growing as she opened the door to the unfamiliar man.

"Can I help you?"

The moment Robin saw him, a thousand and one emotions flooded the thief. Overwhelming anger, uncontrollable grief, and, very fleeting, a sliver of love that try as he may, he had never been able to completely get rid of.

"Your majesty," Byron greeted the woman with a low bow. "I've heard tales that you had arrived..."

As he picked his head up from the bow and saw the archer, Byron's jaw clenched, his blue eyes narrowed in distrust and dislike and even hatred.

"Hood," Byron spat as if it were bitter on his tongue "What are you doing here?"

Regina looked between her outlaw and the well dressed man at Snow's front door, her confusion mounting with every tension rising moment passing. "Do you two know each other?"

"Unfortunately very well," Robin told her, not taking his blue eyes off the man who tried so desperately hard to ruin his life.

"Well does someone wanna fill me in?"

Robin took a deep breath, motioning to the man in a brilliant black suit with a small golden lion pin pinned to his lapel.

"Regina… Meet my father. Lord Byron of Locksley."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Enchanted Forest, Fifteen Years Before the First Curse**

The buck was large and majestic and beautiful. It stood in a thick soft mound of grass, simply basking in the warm afternoon sun as it took a cool drink by the small babbling brook.

Robin pulled back the arrow, letting the fletcher touch his cheek as he set his eyes on his prize. He let out a breath as he took careful aim through the thick brush.

_!WHOOSH!_

The arrow struck the animal right between the eyes and it fell silently into the stream it had been drinking from.

Most hunters aimed for the chest or the side of an animal. If they struck it in the face it would ruin the mount, destroy the trophy they looked to hang on their wall. But it was the most humane kill, which was all Robin had wanted from the beast.

Not to mention how difficult it was to hit such a small target and most archers simply didn't possess the skill necessary.

But Robin did. Even when he was a small child he had shown considerable skill with a bow, his eyesight keen and better than any man's he had ever seen. While he drilled with sword and lance as well, the bow was where Robin of Locksley showed almost an inhuman talent.

Once when he was ten, he begged his tutor to let him play outside on one of the rare sunny days their corner of the kingdom had instead of being cooped up inside studying.

So the gray haired man had challenged the young boy. A single target 200 yards out, lost amongst the woods and trees, double the length that he usually aimed at.

If he hit the target he would be allowed to finish his studies for the day. If he missed, he would have an extra chapter to read by tomorrow.

The guards and staff at Locksley Manor all laughed and jeered as the boy took aim at the edge of the woods beside their home, all of them confident that the child wouldn't be able to even see the target much less hit it.

Robin ignored all the noises from the watching crowd, instead just aiming his arrow and remembering every bit of his training.

He let the arrow fly from his bow, all of them knowing it was apt to either fall short or hit one of the nearby trees so they only watched with half interest before they were proven wrong when they saw the arrow hit the target dead center.

There was a stunned silence from the men who had watched Robin for only a moment before cheers and roars of approval rose from the crowd.

The boy grinned a toothy grin as his father's men patted him on the back, every single one of them praising the miraculous shot.

Robin had never felt so on top of the world.

"M'lord, you missed it!" the kennel master told Byron as he approached the crowd to see what all the ruckus as about. "It was amazing!"

"Why are none of you at work?" said the blue eyed man, putting a slight damper on the celebration. "And it's 'My Lord'."

"Sorry, M'l- My Lord, but Master Robin just hit a target dead center 200 yards out!"

Byron looked out across the woods, his eyes falling on the target with his sons arrows firmly embedded in it.

"Aren't you supposed to be at your studies right now, Boy?" Lord Byron asked as he turned his attention from the arrow to the young boy standing beside him.

"Yes, Father, but Professor Smith said-."

"Are you talking back to me, Boy?"

The ten year old swallowed hard, shaking his head. The bruises from his last time he had 'talked back' had just faded away and he really didn't want anymore. "No, Father, I was just explaining-."

"I don't care what Professor Smith says, _I_ say you're supposed to be at your studies. You're ten years old and you can barely read. You should be ashamed of yourself for that."

By now any of the excitement at watching the young boy sink the arrow had disappeared and most had quickly made their way back to their jobs, none of them wanting to face Byron's wrath.

A hot blush crept to Robin's cheeks as he gazed down at the ground.

He had tried explaining to his father that the letters in his books were backwards, that the words jumbled together, that they didn't look like they should but Byron wouldn't hear of it. He instead merely called Robin unintelligent and added an extra two hours to his already rigid tutoring schedule.

"Get back up to your chambers and study," Byron ordered him. "Don't come down until it's time for supper."

"Yes, Father," Robin told him before he ran back into the castle, fighting back the tears that he had so desperately wanted to shed.

The next day a new tutor had showed up to assist him with his studies and he, nor anyone else who worked at the manor, never saw Professor Smith again…

Robin wrenched the arrow free from the bucks skull, petting the great beast.

"You'll feed a family," he told the animal as he gently stroked its shirt bristly brown fur. "You'll feed a starving child. Your sacrifice will save them."

With a slight grunt Robin threw the carcass over his shoulders, grabbed his bow and headed carefully out of the woods, making sure none of his father's men were around to spot him.

The woods he hunted in was his father's and Lord Byron had made it a crime to hunt in his forest. Afterall when men could merely shoot a meal, they wouldn't work as hard to earn the money to support themselves which meant less gold for him.

But Robin couldn't let the people who lived on this land starve just because his father wanted to squeeze the peasants dry.

Once he was clear of the woods Robin quickly and quietly made his way to the home where the hungry family lived, his eyes peeled for the forest green armor his families knights wore.

He made it to the home without incident and knocked on the door, smiling at the young couple who answered, both of them dangerously underweight.

"Robin!" the woman breathed a sigh of relief, holding a small and sickly looking toddler in her arms. "Oh may the Gods praise you!"

"My father doesn't know I'm here," he quickly informed them, still glancing around for soldiers. "If he did-..."

"We know," the husband said as he took the large buck from Robin's shoulders and hoisted it on his own. "You're a hero, Robin of Locksley."

The boy wanted to laugh. How on earth was he a hero? Just for doing the bare minimum for his people? If anything they should be demanding far more from him than what he was able to provide.

"I'm not a hero. Any decent person would be doing the same thing."

The wife shook her head. "No they wouldn't. Breaking your own father's law so that three peasants don't starve… it takes a true hero to do that."

Redness flushed his cheek as he stared down at the ground. He wasn't worthy of all this praise.

The woman clapped the young man on the shoulder and he raised his eyes to meet hers. "You ARE a hero, Robin. No matter what anyone else tells you."

"I just… I feel I should be doing more. To help you, to help the others, to help the Colters… They're going to be homeless tomorrow. My father's going to force them out and there's not a thing I can do to stop him."

Robin felt his anger rising. It wasn't fair. They were good people; they were honest, kind, hard working people. It wasn't their fault the snows had made it impossible for their harvest to grow this year.

His father didn't need their taxes. He certainly didn't need it so bad that he couldn't afford to wait two weeks for their son to send them the money. He had rooms full of gold and treasures and jewels stacked from floor to ceiling.

Byron had so much gold he barely even bothered to count it anymore.

Robin's eyes grew wide as his mind raced a thousand miles an hour. No. No he couldn't do that, he couldn't steal from his own father, he couldn't be a thief. There was no honor in thievery afterall.

But… if it was for a good cause…

Robin shook the thought away. He wouldn't do that, he would get caught too easily and as much as Robin liked to believe otherwise he knew his father wouldn't hesitate to throw him into the dungeons.

But, he thought to himself as he bid the starving family goodbye, he had already broken one of his father's laws. Plus there had to be more honor in stealing gold than stealing the life of a creature right?

As Robin walkes back to the manor he passed by the home of the Colters. He saw both William and Rebecca struggling to pull up anything from their small garden but coming up with nothing but small underdeveloped vegetation and weeds.

Robin put his head down as he walked down the dirt road so as not to be recognized, the shame and guilt almost overwhelming him, not that it would have mattered. Even in his most down to earth clothes it was still finer than anything the peasants could afford. The golden lion brooch that held his forest green cape together was worth more than their entire wardrobe ten times over.

$15,000 in gold for a one room hovel with guards that had less honor than the criminals that would do them harm to protect them and they couldn't even hunt on their own ground.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

...And, as Robin looked back at the desperate family once he was far enough away so they wouldn't see his face, he decided he was going to do something about it…

—

**The Underworld, Present Day**

Regina's eyes went wide as she looked from her boyfriend to the well dressed man at her door. Robin had never once talked about his father. Friar Tuck was the man Robin always referred to as 'like a father to me' and he always spoke about the monk with love and affection so Regina didn't push him to talk about his father. He would tell her when the time was right.

But, apparently, that deadline has been pushed up to right now.

"So," Byron sneered at the thief. "One of your little thieving friends finally made you kick the bucket?"

"I'm very much alive, actually, and my men would never harm me," Robin spat.

Byron scoffed. "Your 'men' are nothing more than dirty criminal peasants who sleep on dirt."

"Okay so I gather that this isn't exactly a happy family reunion," Regina muttered.

"This thief is not apart of my family, your majesty," Byron told her sharply. "He abandoned his home, he abandoned his responsibilities…"

Robin rolled his eyes as he turned his back on his father and walked back into the shared apartment only to have Byron follow behind him.

"He abandoned his honor."

Too far.

Robin whipped around to face the older man, glaring into the same blue eyes he saw whenever he looked into the mirror.

"Do NOT talk about my honor!" the thief barked.

Regina quickly got in between the two men and pushed them away from one another as gently as she could, looking shocked at what was transpiring in the kitchen.

She had never seen Robin lose his temper like this.

"I think both of you need to calm down," she said as she looked from one to the other.

"How dare you raise your voice to me, Boy!" Byron shouted, ignoring the Queens plea that they calm down.

Robin swallowed hard. He hadn't been called 'boy' in over thirty years and hearing it now, in front of the woman he loved, it brought back a whole slew of memories of his father yelling at him, his fists landing strongly against his flesh, the sound of Byron's belt whistling through the air when he was a child...

But Robin Hood wasn't a child anymore. He was a legend, a folk hero, the whole world knew what he had done for people and the whole world knew his name.

"I have a name," Robin told him as defiantly as he dared.

"You HAD a name, and you threw it away. You threw away the Locksley name, one of the oldest and most noblest family names in our realm and you choose to be Robin 'Hood'," Byron spat as if the name was sour on his tongue.

Without warning he grabbed hold of Robin's hand and wrenched up the sleeve of his gray hoodie, the lion tattoo that had led Regina to him shining against his skin as proud as ever. "You don't deserve to wear that lion."

Robin snatched his arm back, pushing his sleeve back down.

"It is just as much my family crest as it is yours."

"You abandoned your family!" Byron yelled, taking a step towards his son, seemingly forgetting about the magical woman in between them.

"Back off!" Regina barked, pushing her soulmates father away from him. The brunette queen stood defiantly in front of her thief, reading and willing to throw a fireball at him if needed.

"Regina?!"

The three of them looked up at the second story of the loft as Henry, Snow and Charming came racing down the stairs, bow and trusty sword in hand.

"What's going on?" David demanded, eyeing the newcomer. "Who's this?"

"Mom, you alright?" Henry asked as he went over and stood by his mother.

"I'm fine, Henry. Everything's fine," said Regina, her eyes narrowing in dislike at the Lord. "This is-."

"Lord Byron?"

Everyone sans Robin turned to find Snow standing at the foot of the stairs with her eyes wide and her mouth agape. Her voice had barely been above a whisper

Byron straightened out his jacket, already pressed and crisp, giving the princess a rather tight bow. "Your highness."

Regina's eyes narrowed in confusion as she looked from the stunned Snow to her soulmates father. "You two… know each other? How?"

Snow swallowed hard, her eyes finding Robin's who gave a barely noticeable shake of his head. He had yet to her to tell Regina the extent of his history with the princess and both of them swore they would never speak of it and both had kept their word.

That was why they had pretended to be strangers when they met what seemed like a lifetime ago in the Enchanted Forest when Pan's curse sent them back. She was married, he had fallen in love with Marian… it didn't seem worth it to drag up their ancient history.

Snow realized what she had done and she cleared her throat.

"I- my father, we knew many different lords and noble families," the pixie cut princess said. "Robin's family was just one of them."

Regina raised a brow, not buying the excuse for a second before she turned back to the man in the crisp suit who was also staring at Snow same as Regina had been.

But she was still his princess. He would allow Snow her secrets.

For now.

"So what do you want?" Regina demanded regaining his attention.

Any niceties had out the window after she saw how he treated Robin. "Clearly you're not here to hold hands with your son."

"You're right, Your Majesty, I'm not," Byron told her, reaching into his suit jacket and handing her an envelope. "I'm here to hand you your lease."

"...Our lease?"

Regina opened the envelope and glanced over the paperwork, raising her brow when she did in fact see a legally written lease.

"I own the building," Byron explained. "Most buildings in this area of the Underworld, actually. I collect the rent, the land taxes, building taxes, any monetary debts you left in life…"

"You're the Underworld tax collector, of course you are," Robin said.

"Why else do you these these wretched souls all have jobs? Even death doesn't stop taxes."

"No of course not. God forbid you let even dead men exist in peace without you taking your share."

Byron glared at his son, his hand curling into a fist as a familiar rage filled him. He knew he was in the presence of royalty as well as that Shepherd who called himself a prince and knew he ought to behave better, like the Lord and Master he was, but after the constant disrespect from the boy up on earth, he was not about to let it happen down here as well.

"I am still your Lord and your father, Boy, and you WILL respect me," he demanded. "Or do you need a reminder what happens when you mouth off to me?"

Byron took a step towards him once more but just as before Regina stood in front of him, glaring dangerous daggers at the man.

"You lay a finger on him and I promise you that whatever pain you felt in your first death, you're going to feel it ten fold I'm your second," Regina spat with a familiar comfortable fire.

"Why on earth do you care about him so much?" Byron asked. "He's only a thief, you're the Queen. He stole from you, Your Majesty, many times."

"She cares about me because we're in love," Robin answered for her, stepping forward and wrapping his arm around the queens waist for emphasis. "As hard as I tried to live my life in a way that you would despise, I managed to do the one thing you always wanted. Congratulations, Father, your son is with a Queen."

Byron's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates as he looked from Robin to Regina to, surprisingly, Snow before his eyes found Robin's defiant ones yet again.

"You… and the Queen?"

"Yes. Perhaps if you had let me choose my own path instead of trying to sell me off like livestock, it would have happened while you were alive to see it."

Byron swallowed hard as his eyes drifted to Henry, who had called the Queen 'Mom.'

"Is this-?" he asked, pointing to the confused author.

"No," Robin said, already anticipating the question before his father even asked it.

Byron racked his brain for a moment, struggling to remember the family history. The Queen hasn't been pregnant when Leopold died. Although with the rumors about Regina, he doubted that any child she had could definitely be her husband's anyway.

Maybe she had found a new husband during the curse she had intended to cast?

But he would worry about the probably uncomplicated family tree later.

"Do you have any heirs?" Byron asked, earning a sharp glare from Robin.

"You know I do."

"No, you have an offspring. An heir is someone you're proud to hand over your life and legacy to. That child is not an heir." his father said. "Not when his mother was some filthy peasant, not when his name is 'Hood'. The boy's practically a bastard."

This time it was Robin that Regina had to hold back and could only do so with David's help.

"Don't you ever talk about Roland again!" Robin roared. "Don't you ever call my son that!"

"What else would you have me call the son of a thief and a peasant whore?"

"Get out!" the outlaw yelled as he struggled against the Queen and the Prince. "Get out now!"

"Come on," Snow said as she grabbed Byron by the shoulders and steered him out of the apartment.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed once we were alone and the door shut behind them.

"I heard you were in town and I wanted to see you."

"Well I don't want to see you!" Snow snapped dangerously.

Byron glared at the princess. "In our realm-."

"We're not in our realm though," she interrupted him, "we are in the Underworld and I'd very much like to be able to leave when my daughter is done rescuing her boyfriend and if Regina finds out about what happened, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to!"

The two glared at one another for a long moment before Byron straightened out. "You are still my princess and my daughter by marriage."

"Quiet!" Snow hissed, not wanting that particular piece of knowledge to reach anyone inside the apartments ears.

"Therefor," he said as if she hadn't spoken. "I will let you have your secrets, your highness."

With a well practiced bow, Byron turned and walked back down the stairs.

"I shall be back next week for the rent though!" he called up to her before he left the building with a slam of the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re wondering who I’m picturing when I wrote Byron, picture the look of Stannis Baratheon and the sharpness of Tywin Lannister.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Enchanted Forest, Fifteen Years Before the First Curse**

Byron looked down at the bag of gold that the Colters had handed him. $15,000 in gold coins, somehow miraculously raised in three days.

Something had to be amiss.

"Where did you get the gold?" Byron asked, a sharpness in his voice.

If there was one thing that Lord Locksley did not suffer was thievery, especially from his own peasants. He was one of the harshest judges in the land when it came to others stealing what wasn't rightfully theirs.

"Our son," said William while his wife glanced over at Robin who sat beside his father on his horse and was doing his best to remain calm in the face of what could have been the biggest mistake of his life.

The night before the young lord had stood outside his father's treasure room as an internal war raged in his mind.

There was no honor in being a thief.

But he couldn't let those people go homeless.

If his father found out…

It would be worth it.

He would be beaten.

They would starve.

Robin waited in the dark shadows as his father's guards passed by the room where the gold and silver and jewels were stored for what felt like hours. The dark blue of an approaching dawn was already upon them when he made his choice.

He would steal the gold. Just this once, to save the people who lived on his father's lands. The Colters would get back on their feet and Robin would never be a thief again.

He waited until the guards made their round for the last time before he snuck into the treasure room and filled a bag with just as much as the Colters would need to pay off his father's debt.

Robin galloped as fast as he could to the simple peasant hut. He told the peasants to lie, to tell Byron when he visited later on that their son had been given an advance from the _Prince_ , not princess Cora, prince Henry, who Byron knew had a soft spot for peasants, when Daniel told his employer of his parents financial woes.

The two peasants praised Robin's name. Rebecca hugged him and wept, William clapped him on the shoulder and told him he was a good honorable man. A far better man than his father.

Robin should have been offended on Byron's behalf but as he looked at the meager hut that was worth a hundred times less than what his father was charging them for it, he couldn't find it in his heart to disagree.

By the time he arrived back home the sun was on the cusp of rising. Robin had JUST climbed back into his bed when his footman came in to rouse him for the day.

"Your son?" Byron repeated the lie slowly. Robin could practically hear the gears turning in his head. "You told me he wasn't getting paid until the end of the month."

"He wasn't, My Lord, but he told Prince Henry of our situation and the Prince gave him an advance."

Robin glanced over at his father who looked rather unimpressed at the explication.

"I should evict you just for being leeches off your son," Byron spat. "Not to mention getting money from that spineless prince."

Neither Coulter nor Robin said anything in response to the two handed insult. A cold sweat broke out on the boys brow. This had to work. If he had stolen from his own father just for him to evict them anyway…

But as Byron put the bag of gold into his saddle bag, Robin let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Next time the rent best come from your own hands," Byron warned them.

Without another word he whirled his horse around and galloped off while Robin stayed behind to give the relieved couple a gentle smile.

"My Lord," he said with a polite nod of his head. "My Lady."

"Thank you," Rebecca breathed. "Thank you, Robin."

Another smile and he was gone.

Robin said nothing as he rode up to fall into place behind his father, biting back a giddy grin.

That had felt good. His very soul was singing and his heart was soaring. Robin had never felt as light and full of joy as he did right then; helping people, giving the truly desperate in this land a bit of hope. Even as the guilt of his thievery gnawed at him, Robin wanted to do it again. He wanted to help more people, he wanted others to wear those same smiles that the Colters wore when he handed them the gold.

That was ALL he wanted to do.

"Gold is gold, Boy," Byron told his son, dragging him out of his thoughts. "But if you let these peasants get away from leeching off of others for too long… Remember when you were a child and you used to sneak out to feed the dogs in the kennels scraps from the kitchen?"

Robin bit back a harsh retort, already knowing where this comparison was going and instead answered with a simple, "yes, Father."

"If I hadn't stopped you from doing that, the hounds would have stopped hunting. They wouldn't have worked as hard for their meal, it's the same with these peasants. They're like animals, Boy, if you just hand them everything without them working for it they won't work for anything."

The young archer rolled his eyes at his father's words. Not only was it completely insulting to compare a human being to an animal, but to this day Robin visited the kitchens after everyone else had fallen asleep to take the scraps out to the kennels, that was how he learned to move through the shadows without being seen, and he found that the hounds had more strength and made better hunters when he did.

But the still tender healing bruises on his face reminded Robin it was better to keep his thoughts to himself so he just answered with a respectful, "understood, Father."

The rest of the ride back home went as uneventful as they usually did. They gave their horses to the stable boy and made their way into the house where Ada of Locksley, formally Ada of Lannisport, assisted the kitchen staff in bringing out their supper.

"Hello, Mother," Robin greeted the dark blonde woman with a smile which she eagerly returned. He kissed her on the cheek and she took his face in his hands.

"My darling Robin," she said, her light green eyes looking over his handsome face and Robin knew exactly what she was doing, the same thing he would do to her every morning.

She was looking him over for fresh bruises.

Robin just put a hand over hers and shook his head so subtle she would've missed it if she wasn't looking for it, letting her know today had been a rare good day.

Ada grinned and kissed his forehead before she was willing to let him go. Robin pulled out her chair for her just as Byron walked in after dispensing the money in the treasury.

"Any news today?" Byron asked his wife of seventeen years as cold and uncaring as he would speak to one of the staff and both Ada and Robin knew that was all he viewed her as.

"Yes actually there was," she said as Robin took his seat beside her while Byron sat as his rightful place at the head of the long rectangle table. "There was a message for you from the Middle Kingdom."

Misthaven was split into five separate kingdoms. The Eastern Kingdom where Sherwood Forest, Locksley, Nottingham and many small poor farming villages resided. The people who lived here spoke with thick Britannia accents and a good honorable king that the peasants had nicknamed 'Richard the Lionheart' reigned in that area of the Enchanted Forest

Then there was the southern kingdom where Prince Henry and Princess Cora lived, although he was fifth in line to the king who ruled over them.

The people who were from there tended to have darker features and their own spiced flavorful accents. Robin thought the women from there with brown eyes and dark colored hair were FAR more appealing than those who lived in his own kingdom where pale skin, light colored eyes and blonde hair were prevalent.

Then there was the western kingdom which was ruled by the arrogant and prideful King George and finally the northern kingdom which had merged with the already largest and by far the most powerful middle kingdom, all of which now were ruled over by Leopold and Eva White.

"King Leopold has accepted your request to dine with him when he passes through on his way to meet with Richard," said Ada. "He'll be here this Friday."

Robin couldn't help but look over at his mother as she made the announcement. She should have been bursting with excitement but instead it was almost like she was proclaiming a death sentence.

If Byron noticed he didn't seem to care.

"Did he? Good. Tell the staff, make sure we're prepared."

"Already done, My Lord."

A curt nod as thanks before he turned back to his meal.

"Why is the king coming here, Father?" asked Robin, taking the time to thank the staff who brought out their supper before he turned back to Byron.

"Because I've offered his daughter your hand in marriage," Byron said as easily as if he were speaking about the weather. "Seems he's accepted, or is at least strongly considering the offer."

Robyn, already grown used to the idea that his marriage would be nothing more than a political contract, wasn't so much shocked at that as he was confused.

What children did Leopold have? There was the Princess Snow White, of course, but she was still a young girl, there was no way his father meant her.

"Has the king taken on a ward?" asked Robin.

Byron shook his head as he took a bite of parsnips. "No."

But… then… no. No, of course Byron didn't mean to marry him to… no.

"You… Father, you don't…" Robin wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the idea. "Surely you don't mean the… the Princess Snow?"

"That's exactly who I mean."

Robin's eyes flew open. A mixture of disgust and blind fury overwhelmed him while his stomach twisted in uncomfortable knots. A thousand different thoughts raced through his mind, temporarily clouding his usually level headed judgement.

"She's a child!"

Byron snapped his head up to glare at his son, his hand curling into a well used fist.

"Do NOT raise your voice to me, Boy!"

But Robin was too far gone to care about the impending threat.

"You promised! Father, you PROMISED it would be someone my own age!" Robin shouted. "She's nine years old! I'm going to be seventeen next month!"

Ada swallowed hard as her nervous eyes flickered between her son and her husband.

"Darling, if you want to wait until she's bled I'm sure the King would be willing to wait a few years," Ada offered, hoping to soothe the tensions.

It ripped her heart in half every time she saw her son with more bruises on him.

"She'll be, what twelve? I'll be twenty? I would still be a grown man marrying a child!" he cried. Robin tried desperately to rack his brain, trying to come up with SOMETHING that would appease his father. "The Sultan!" he yelled suddenly. "In Agrabah! His daughter is 16! Why not her?!"

"Agrabah law says she must be married to a prince," Byron told him. "You're just a Lord. Not to mention marrying someone outside of our realm? The point of this is get more land and power HERE, in Misthaven."

Robin swallowed his rage as he glanced down at the table, his voice shaking as he fought to keep his temper in check.

"Father, don't make me do this, please."

Byron slammed his hand down on the table as he stood from his chair, making both his wife and child jump at the loud sound.

"You will do as I command, Boy!" the Lord yelled. "You WILL marry Snow White!"

Robin's own hands curled into a tight fist as he stared dead ahead as his father glared at him, his breath coming out in uneven trembles.

Without another word Robin got up from his seat and stormed away from his spot at the table.

"Don't you dare walk away from me, Boy!" Byron yelled as he followed in quick step behind him. "Boy!"

Robin froze mid step. He wanted nothing more than to turn around and hit his father as hard as he could, over and over, making him feel as weak and ashamed as Byron made him feel every day.

But he couldn't. Robin would not hit his father, he would not dishonor himself or the man he shared his last name with.

Byron twisted Robin around and hit him, hard, landing his fist right over his ear. Robin gasped in pain as he heard a sharp ringing before his father grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall, hitting him once more for good measure.

Robin saw Ada get up from her chair and he shook his head, silently begging her not to defend him, not to tell him to stop.

He wouldn't be able to stomach the guilt if his mother was hurt in his stead.

"You're a disgrace to the Locksley name," Byron spat at his son. "A weak, spineless peasant loving disgrace!"

Robin offered no rebuttal as his father pulled away from him, jabbing a finger in his face.

"You were so eager to get up from your place at supper? You were so willing to walk away from me?" Byron grabbed hold of him again and yanked him a few steps forward so that he wasn't pressed up against the wall. "Then you're going to enjoy standing here. See if you want to ever walk away from me again."

Without another word Byron stormed away from his son.

"Leave him," he barked at Ada who had taken a single step towards her son. "You coddle him far too much already."

When Ada looked helplessly at Robin he gave her a soft smile, letting her know that everything was going to be alright.

For the first few hours it wasn't bad. He shifted from one foot to the other, wishing he had worn his doe skin boots instead of his harsh leather riding ones.

By the fifth hour a dull pain radiated up his calves and to his spine. By the sixth he was rubbing the outside of his thighs, trying to rid himself of the sharp pins and needles that seemed to be pressing into him at all angles.

He was tired, he was hungry, he was thirsty…Everything from the waist down was hurting him and was painfully sore. Robin would have given his life just to be able to sit down or even so much as crouch down to take the pressure off of the joints in his knees.

Twenty nine hours. Twenty nine hours Robin stood in that same spot with nothing to lean on, no food, no water, no sleep… Ada had visited him once to offer him water but Robin shook his head. If she was caught helping him who knows what would have happened to her?

Just when Robin was sure he couldn't take it anymore his father came back into the dining room and stood toe to toe with an aching Robin.

"You will never raise your voice to me again," Byron warned him in a low dangerous tone. "You will never walk away from me unless I've given you explicit permission. You will do as you're old, you will marry Snow White, and you will not say another word about it. Do you understand me, Boy? If you don't I'm sure another two or three days of this will help get it into your head."

"I un- I understand," Robin told him in a weak trembling voice. "I won't- I won't disrespect you again, Fa- Father, I promise."

Byron looked at him for a long moment before he gave his son a curt nod and Robin felt his knees buckle as he fell to the ground, gasping for breath. His father snapped his fingers and two footmen hurried in and seized Robin around the arms and hoisted him up, having to support all of his weight. The boy was far too weak to even stand on his own.

"Take him to his chambers, bring him up some supper then let him rest for the rest of the evening," Byron told the two servants who just nodded and quite literally dragged his son away.

**The Underworld, Present Day**

The second Byron had disappeared out that door Robin wrenched free of Regina and David's grasp and paced their small apartment back and forth, seething in such a way that Regina had never once seen it from the usually calm headed thief.

"Robin?" she said cautiously but he paid her no attention. "Robin, you have to calm down."

"I am calm!"

Regina blinked. He had only raised his voice to her once, when she came to New York to tell him that his doe eyed wife was actually her wicked sister but given the circumstances that had been understandable.

She raised her brow at the pacing man, her voice letting him know exactly what she thought of him yelling at her.

"Yes, clearly."

He took as deep a breath as he could, running his hands over his face. "Regina I'm sorry, I just-... I didn't even think about seeing him down here, it's been so long since I've thought about him at all…"

The Queen made her way over to him and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head against his chest. He responded in turn but said nothing.

"Robin," Regina said softly after they had held one another for quite a while.

"Yes?" Robin answered in a far more relaxed voice than before.

"I'm sorry about your father. It doesn't seem like you had the best relationship with him."

Robin chuckled softly and kissed the top of her head, her scent of apples and cinnamon and spices sending shockwaves of calm throughout him.

"That's putting it rather mildly, M'lady."

He released the embrace and headed over to the couch where Regina sat down beside him. She reached over and held his hand and waited patiently for him to say something.

"My father… He was a cruel man. A dishonorable one, one without love or kindness or mercy. He… raised his hand against my mother and myself quite often. For the smallest simplest things, for-..."

Robin shook his head, not wanting that particular floodgates to open up. He took a shaking breath to calm his nerves.

"I have tried to live my life in such a way that he would find it a life not worth living at all; a life full of helping others, being honorable, being good… A life full of love.

When I finally left him, it was like I could breathe for the first time in my life and for the longest time I didn't even think of him. Now he's back and...I can't help but feel like that frightened little boy who used to hide under his bed because I knew when he returned home he would see that I got mud on my cloak."

The Queen bit back her tears as she nuzzled in closer to him and he wrapped his arms around her. This wasn't fair. Robin didn't deserve this, a man as good as him didn't deserve this.

The two stayed like this, embraced in one another's hold, for a long while before the front door to the apartment opened and Snow walked back inside, the string to her bow snapped in two.

"Apparently your father isn't kidding," Snow sighed as she shut the door behind her. "He does actually own the building. He owns half the block actually, and even in death people still owe rent and taxes."

Robin took a deep breath as he pulled away from Regina, shaking the memories of what his father did to him away. He had managed to bury those moments deep away for years and years where he couldn't ever find them. He would have to find a way to bury them again or else he would be walking down a very deep path again.

"If Emma and Rumple find a way to bring back Hook, we could be gone by the end of the day so it won't matter what we owe him," Robin told her. That was when he noticed the broken bow in the princesses hand.

"What the hell did you do to it?"

"I broke it," Snow answered as she handed her bow over to him.

"Yes but how?"

"I banged it against something. Can you fix it?"

Robin nodded as he looked over the bow. "Yeah it just needs a new string, I have plenty in my quiver."

Snow caught his eyes, hoping that Regina wouldn't see the message in hers.

"There's more light upstairs if you need it."

He was just about to tell her he had reattached more than half a hundred bow strings in his life and could do it blindfolded when he noticed the look in the princesses eye.

"Of course, thank you." He turned to Regina. "I'll be right back," he said before giving her a quick kiss on the lips before he grabbed his quiver and followed Snow up to the second story of the loft.

"We can't tell them," Snow whispered so low even Robin had a hard time hearing her.

Robin shook his head. "I won't lie to her."

"You've lied to her about us since the the second you met her! WHY is it SO important to come clean now?

"Because I didn't think it was important enough for her to know."

"Exactly! It's not important at all! I mean really in the eyes of the church we weren't even FULLY married! So there's no reason to tell her OR David!" Snow pleaded

"I would rather she hear it from me than my father," he argued.

"Your father won't care, as a matter of fact he'll be happy that you fell in love with a Queen! You said it yourself, we get out of here and then we never have to think about him or us ever again." Snow grabbed hold of his hands, a desperate pleading in her voice. "Please don't do this… You owe me, Robin."

Robin sighed as he looked at the woman he had vowed to love and honor and protect once. The only vow he had ever broken in his entire life. Snow was right, he did owe her a debt.

"Alright," he told her. "Alright I won't say anything."

He just hoped that repaying it wouldn't come back to haunt him...

—-

"Ah! There's my favorite friendly neighborhood tax collector and real estate tycoon! How goes it?"

Byron gave Hades a bow that was far more rigid than normal.

"Here," Byron said with a shortness he was not accustomed to speaking to Hades with, throwing the check for half of the rent he collected at the Gods feet. "Your half, Your Holiness."

"Oooh, someone's in a mood today," Hades said with a grin. He lifted up one of the two glasses of wine beside him. "Come have a drink with me, Locksley, you'll feel better."

"You didn't tell me he was here," said Byron. "You didn't tell me he was part of the group that came down."

Hades shrugged as he took a sip of the dark red liquid in his crystal glass. "Does it matter?"

"He's in love with the Queen."

"Well I mean who wouldn't be, have you seen her?"

Byron glared at the God seated on his throne.

"You told me to get rid of the person the Queen loves."

"Yes."

"That person is Robin!"

Hades scoffed at the man.

"So what? It's not like you were some proud papa who's heart is bursting with affection for him. You almost killed him in your realm but now you want to grow a conscious?"

Byron said nothing as Hades got off his throne and walked over to the Lord.

"Don't tell me you're backing out of your deal."

Hades couldn't help but be impressed as the God stood toe to toe with the deceased man, not even getting so much as a quiver from him as he stared right back into the Gods eyes.

"No," Byron said without turning away.

Hades smiled.

"Good." He held up the glass of wine. "Then forget about disappointing sons and come have a drink with me."

Byron didn't hesitate a single moment before he took the wine from the God of the Underworld.

"Thank you… Your Holiness."

 


	4. Chapter 4

**The Enchanted Forest, Fifteen Years Before the First Curse**

Robin looked at himself in his looking glass, frowning as he smoothed out the most 'Lordly' outfit he owned.

A rich soft forest green velvet shirt, brown leather pants, new rabbit fur boots with his finest green cloak clasped together with his golden lion broach freshly polished until the metal shined with its ruby eyes gleaming in the sunlight. He looked every bit the prince his father wished him to be. Clean shaven, hair freshly cut…

He felt like a prized horse being paraded out in front of potential buyers. That and a right pompous ass.

"Robin?" His mother called out as she walked into his chambers. Ada, wearing a gorgeous green silk dress, smiled at her only son as she looked him over and the teenager swore he saw a tear in her eye.

"You look so handsome," she said softly as she walked over to him and took his face in her hands. Robin forced a smile to his lips for her. She didn't need to know just how much this was killing him inside.

Ada brushed some of his light blonde locks he had slicked back back into his face.

"It'll make you look younger," she told him simply.

Robin just nodded. That was precisely why he had pushed his hair back in the first place, to make himself look older and less attractive to the princess and king but apparently his mother had caught onto that particular trick.

Byron walked in, wearing a handsome brown leather vest with their lion crest embroidered on it, over a white shirt and black leather trousers, his own cloak held together with his own lion broach, holding a green and brown leather scabbard with a ornate sword handle sticking out of it.

He looked over his son carefully as if he were considering buying a prized steed.

"The king would be a fool not to be impressed," said Byron as he circled him, the closest thing to a compliment he had ever paid the boy regarding his looks.

"Thank you, Father," Robin said.

Byron handed him the sword and Robin quickly affixed to himself to complete his look, the heavily decorated sword more an accessory than an actual weapon. Robin wanted to wear his bow and quiver instead but a sword looked far more 'kingly' his father had said.

Ada excused herself to go do final checks on the decorations in the main hall and when she was gone Byron took Robin by the shoulders, blue eyes looking into blue. Any other child might have thought words of encouragement or complaints were to follow but Robin knew better.

"If you embarrass me in front of the King or his daughter," he said as he straightened out his sons cloak and looked right into his boys eyes. "I will flay you within an inch of your life and make your mother watch. Do you understand me, Boy?"

Robin didn't blink, didn't move, didn't breathe. After a moment he realized his father wanted actual confirmation he understood what was at stake and he just nodded, not trusting himself to say anything.

His father gave a curt nod to the boy and walked out of his room. Robin let out a shaky breath and sat down at his desk, running a hand through his dark blonde hair.

He didn't want this. He didn't want to impress some pompous king, he didn't want to be married to a child just because his father wanted a bit more power.

Robin didn't want power. He just wanted a life of his own.

A while later his footman summoned him to let him know the king was making his way up the road and his presence was 'requested' downstairs.

Robin wanted to laugh. There was nothing about any of this that was being 'requested' of him. A request meant you could turn it down. He was being ORDERED to do all this.

He followed the staff member downstairs and stood in between his father and mother who reached down and gently squeezed his hand. Robin turned towards her and returned the soft smile before they turned back to the road and watched as an exuberant carriage and several knights on white horses trotted in front of and behind them.

"Remember my warning, Boy," Byron muttered to Robin as the carriage stopped in front of them. "One mishap and you and I are going to have more than a conversation…"

The blue eyed teen said nothing as the coachman stepped down from the driver's seat and opened the door.

Robin took in a sharp breath as Snow stepped out first. She was so young.

She LOOKED young.

A large pink bow in her long black hair, nervous hazel eyes and a pale pink dress that almost made her look younger if that was even possible.

Robin looked over at his own mother again, practically begging her to put an end to this but she just squeezed his hand again, reminding him that she was in no more a position to stop this then he was.

When the king stepped out of the carriage Robin, along with the rest of the staff and family, bowed lowly. The teenager glanced up from his bow and raised his brow.

THIS was their king?

He looked rather… mediocre, to be perfectly honest.

Leopold was older, at least his father's age, which was fairly surprising considering Eva looked to be in her mid thirties rather than the sixties the king appeared to be, and he did not hide his age well. He was wrinkled, balding, his stomach protested against the tight golden outfit they had put him in… Not to mention the bloody flowers. Robin knew the crest of the Whites were white flowers on a gold shield but…

Let's just say of all the things he hated about his family, their crest and colors was not one of them.

Lord Byron was many things but there wasn't a man alive who could say he didn't look the part of a leader at least. Strong and hard, like iron, with a sharp sword at his waist and a furious lion on his chest.

"Your Majesty," Byron said as majestically as he could manage. "Words cannot describe the honor my family and I feel. We are humbled by you and your family's presence."

Leopold giggled, not laughed, giggled and Robin rose his brow at that. What kind of king giggled period much less while a lord was giving him praise? Especially a lord as proud as his father.

Robin could practically hear the anger pouring out of his father at what he was sure to take as an insult

"God's, I just love the accents in this area... and he's certainly got the flattery bit down," Leopold said with a laugh. "Come now, stand up, Locksley," the king said with a grin.

The family and staff all stood from their bows and Robin clasped his hands in front of him, watching as the young princess grasped her mother's hand.

Gods, she was so young…

Leopold stuck his hand out and Robin could see the weak waisted handshake he gave his father and saw his father biting back a retort he was sure to give any other man about a weak handshake gave Robin a moment of fleeting hope.

Perhaps if he thought the king was too weak he wouldn't want his only son to marry into this family, even if they were royalty.

"This is my lovely Queen, Eva," Leopold introduced the black haired woman next to him with a look of such warmth and love it practically radiated off him.

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty," Byron said with another bow as he took her hand, giving her a quick kiss on the back of it.

"As it is yours," Eva said with a warm smile befitting a Queen before she quickly hugged Ada and then turned her attention to Robin.

He gave her a polite nod of his head and a smile. "Welcome to Locksley, your Majesty," Robin said, repeating the same gesture as his father had.

While her smile didn't falter Robin could see the uneasiness in her hazel eyes. He had a feeling she was just as apprehensive about this potential union as he was.

"And this," Leopold said with an air of pride that was unmatched by any father alive, putting his hands on the young girls shoulders, introducing her first not to Byron but to Robin instead. "Is my beautiful daughter, Snow."

Snow looked up, as if she had a choice, to the teenager and took a deep breath.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Master Locksley," the Little princess said, the line obviously well reversed and confirmed it was when she immediately turned to her mother who gave her a kind smile and a nod as if she had nailed it.

Robin took his own deep breath as he kneeled down in front of the frightened girl so he was eye to eye with her. This hasn't been part of what he had been told to do, he wasn't even sure how his father would feel about his son kneeling in the dirt, but he was not about to let this young girl damn near break her neck looking up at him.

He smiled warmly at the young girl and took her hand. "The pleasure is all mine, My Lady."

Robin brought the back of her hand to his lips, bringing a smile to the young girls face.

He saw that she still had all of her baby teeth.

Robin stood back up and his father motioned to The king hugged Robins mother, giving her a kiss on the cheek instead of the usual kiss to the back of the hand and then turned to Robin.

"This is my son," Byron told Leopold with as much pride as he could fake. "Robin of Locksley."

Leopold said nothing and his eyes merely searched over his face for a moment. Robin wondered what he was looking for, if he would have the hard look of his father when he grew older, if he would have handsome children, if he was attractive enough to be not only a future king but a husband to his daughter.

But what the king said instead stunned the teenage boy.

"You have kind eyes, Robin."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Leopold smiled at the young man and clapped him on the shoulder before he turned to Byron who had actually managed to look a little less menacing than usual.

"I'm sure that after such a long journey you and your family are absolutely famished," Byron told the royal family. "We've set up the master room for you and your Queen and a room nearby just for the princess. We also have tents in the back for your men. Then later on we've prepared a feast."

"All very good, thank you, Locksley."

Leopold called for his men to deliver his and the Queens things as well as the princesses belongings up to their room and then followed them up themselves to rest a little before the the feast tonight.

Once they were left alone Byron turned towards her son and actually smiled.

Or at least he looked less angry than he normally did.

"It's going well," said Byron to his son and wife. He nodded at Robin. "The king seems to like you, Boy. Just keep up this act, we'll have you betrothed by nightfall and as weak as he is, the kingdom will be in your hands the moment you say your vows."

Robin couldn't even force a smile at that idea so he just answered with a respectful, "yes, Father."

Byron gave the boy a curt nod and walked back inside the lavish manor leaving Robin and Ada alone.

"Robin," his mother said sweetly. "I know this isn't what you wanted… It's not what many of us wanted."

"She's a child," Robin argued softly so that no one but the woman standing in front of him would hear. "I heard her asking her mother to tuck her in still."

"Well you can hardly blame her for that, she's a little girl."

"Exactly my point! She SHOULD be asking to get tucked in still and should be sleeping with her doll, not making sure she looks good for her future husband!"

"I know but…" Ada sighed, trying a different approach. "Forget about Snow for a moment. You're going to be a king, Robin, you can choose to be with the Princess or any other woman you choose. You don't ever even have to touch her until she's twenty if that's what you want. But you will still be a good and kind and loyal king, you'll give people hope. You'll… actually be someone that inspires the people."

"Why can't I do that here in my own lands and look after my own people? Why can't I just marry who I want and stay here?"

Robin sounded like a brat, he knew. A spoiled pompous brat but he couldn't help it, he didn't want to be king of all of Misthaven and he CERTAINLY didn't want to marry a young girl who still slept with a stuffed doll.

Sometimes he wasn't even sure he wanted to be a Lord.

All Robin wanted to do was help people, his people. From what he's seen of his father and even his grandfather, sitting behind stone walls passing laws and bills and collecting taxes was not the way to help anyone except themselves.

"I wish you could," Ada said as sincerely as she could. "I truly do, Robin, I wish you could live your life the way you want and marry who you wanted to marry for love but… that's not the way things are."

She reached up and took his face in her hands, the cold metal of her wedding ring brushing against his cheek. "We all have to make sacrifices, my love."

Robin put his hand over Ada's and sighed as he nodded.

"I know, Mum."

Ada smiled sadly at her only son before they both made their way back inside.

**The Underworld, Present Day**

Great. Just fucking great.

Regina should have known this wasn't going to be as easy as splitting Emma's heart and getting out of here on the next ferry.

Hades had written hers, Emma and Snow's name on gravestones which meant that half of their party couldn't leave the Underworld.

Robin and David were mad at Hook for not writing their names instead to give the girls a chance to get out of there, Henry was angry and, even if he wouldn't admit it, terrified because now it looked like both his mothers were stuck down here because Hook wouldn't make a choice, Hook was pissed at all of them because he never asked them to come down here to rescue him, Robin was also mad at Snow and Charming for not telling him about the haunting phone so he could talk to Roland and his daughter, Emma was upset because she had come down here to save him and now they couldn't and it was just not a good day for any of their little gang.

"Alright everyone shut up," Regina barked at the squabbling gang, the authority in her voice honed perfectly after years of being Queen.

They all turned to her as she rubbed her temples, trying not to let her anger get the best of her.

This had been a really stupid idea. Hook was over three hundred years old, he should have just been left alone. He never would have known that his sacrifice was meaningless… Now they were all stuck here trying to save a pirate that should have died over two hundred years ago.

She took a deep breath as she rubbed her temples. "Okay… we will figure a way out of this," Regina told them, sounding far more confident then she felt. "We just… need to find a way to convince Hades to take his name off the tombstones."

"How do you propose we do that, Your Manesty?" Hook snapped at her, still rather upset that Emma and her family had put themselves in danger for his expense. "He's not only already dead, he's the God of death. Swords can't cut him, arrows can't piece him, your magic can't do anything…"

"I don't know," Regina barked back. "But I don't care how powerful he is, everything can be killed. Including Gods."

"She's right," David said with the same hopeful optimism of his wife. "We're gonna figure out a way to defeat Hades and get out of here." He looked towards Hook, "all of us."

"But until then…" Regina rubbed her temple, "we're gonna have to get… jobs."

Emma and Hook furrowed their brow at that.

They hadn't been told yet about their little run in with Robin's father.

"Jobs?" The blonde asked as she looked between Regina and her parents. "For what, planning on going on a shopping spree?"

"Apparently even death doesn't stop taxes. Or rent," Regina said with a glance to her suddenly sullen boyfriend.

"What, is Prince John the tax collector down here too?" Emma said with a quick chuckle having noticed the look between Regina and Robin.

"No, that particular career belongs to my father," Robin said, cutting off Emma's laugh and turning it into a wide eyed slack jawed state.

"Wait… seriously? Robin Hood's father is a tax collector?"

Robin nodded. "He was a very wealthy lord when he was alive, kept very wealthy by the taxes he imposed on the peasants who lived on our land," he explained.

Emma purses her lips at that but of information. "They didn't mention that bit in any of the movies…"

"Well to be fair, Love, those movies you speak of also have him depicted as a fox," said Hook.

"Nonetheless… if we don't pay taxes or rent, we're getting evicted from the apartment and I have a feeling debtors prison in Hades is a lot worse than sitting in a cell for a few weeks."

"Well no, this is a good thing," Emma said. "Robin can just talk to his dad, get him to give him a break on the rent."

"Yeah that's… not gonna happen," Regina said with another look towards Robin.

"We didn't exactly part on good terms," Robin explained.

Emma shrugged. "Well… yeah but I mean you're his son, he won't evict his own kid."

Robin gave the blonde a sad smile.

"When I was fifteen there was this homeless woman, girl really, that I saw in the market," the thief began. "She was no more than sixteen, and she was with child. It was so cold that night and I couldn't let her freeze so I brought her back to the manor and allowed her to sleep in my bed for the evening. I slept on top of the covers, she slept underneath," he added when he saw Regina raise her brow at him. "Nothing happened, M'lady, I swear it. I told her she had to leave before my father woke but she must have been so exhausted because she slept right through day break and my father caught us in bed together."

He took a shaky breath as the memory came flashing back. The feel of the guards fingers clutching him as he fought against their ironclad hold, the sounds of the girls sobs as she begged Byron to wait until after the babe was born to kill her, the smell of the coppery blood that poured out of her neck, the sight of her head falling into the wicker basket...

"He executed her. Right in front of me. Then for my punishment he wrapped a length of rope around my neck, took me out to the forest… He pulled it JUST high enough so that I could only stand on the balls of my feet. If I had allowed myself even a moment of rest I would have hung myself."

The thief ignored the terrified and that damned pitying look of his friends.

"Father would have hung me up by my wrists in chains but that would have meant I'd have damaged my arms or shoulders and what kind of Lord would I make if I couldn't swing a sword or fire a bow?"

Regina blinked her tears away as she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she breathed. "Robin, I'm so sorry…"

The thief wrapped his arms around his Queen, gently stroking her soft black hair.

"It's alright," he told her softly then, realizing what she really need to hear, he added a soft, "Regina, _I'm_ alright."

"Jesus, Robin," Emma muttered. "That's… I'm so sorry. I mean I thought I had it rough growing up."

Robin kissed the top of Regina's head as she clung to him tighter. "We all have our tales of woe growing up, I'm sure," he said, thinking of the physical scars that Regina still carried from her mother's magic that even her own magic could make disappear.

Hook took a steady breath. "So… what you're saying is your father on't give you a break on the rent."

Regina whipped around to glare at the pirate, and possibly fireball him judging by the movement of her hand, but then she heard the loud boisterous laugh of her soulmate.

Killian Jones may not have known a lot of things but he did know men like Robin and he knew that moments like these required jokes to lighten the mood, not tears and pity.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, unfortunately," Robin said with a grin. "So, rather we like it or not, until we figure out a way to get everyone home…"

"We're gonna have to figure out a way to get some money," Emma finished for him. "Okay well me and my dad will go to the sheriff's station-."

"That's not the way the Underworld works, Love," Hook interrupter. "You aren't here to relive your life back home. You're given a job that forces you to reflect on the worst parts of your life or to remind you what you could never have…"

"Not to mention that my brother already runs the sheriff's station," David reminded his daughter. "I doubt he's gonna wanna co-sheriff."

"So what the hell are we supposed to do?" Regina asked as she looked around at the group. "Hope David's evil twin passes on soon and we try to snag an opening?"

She had not come to the Underworld to work just to appease her soulmates dead father, she had come to get Hook and then get the hell out. "Are we just supposed to sit around with our hands on our-." She glanced over at Henry. "Head? Not to mention if we're all working who the hell is going to work on a way to get us all out of here?"

"Regina, relax," Robin told her gently, as he rubbed her shoulders. He was the only one that was allowed to get away with telling the fiery Queen to stay calm. "We're gonna find a way out of here soon, I promise M'lady."

"It's 'My Lady'."

The group turned towards the man who had suddenly appeared.

"I taught you better than to use that peasant lingo, Boy," Byron scolded.

Not surprisingly Robin pushed Regina and Henry behind him as he glared at his father. Surprisingly though, Hooks eyes widened in shock.

"He's working for Hades!" Hook yelled to the group. "I've seen him in the bloody throne room!"

Emma looked between the well dressed man with the same blue eyes as the thief and Robin himself. "... This is your Dad, isn't it Robin?"

"Byron of Locksley, at your service." He bowed to Emma who merely raised a brow. "Your Highness."

"Whoa, I'm nobodies highness," the blonde argued as Byron straightened up.

"You're the daughter of the Princess Snow and…" He eyed the Shepherd with a certain amount of distaste. " _Prince_ David are you not?"

"Well… yeah but-."

"Then that makes you royalty rather you want to be or not, Your Highness."

"Um… okay… but what the hell are you doing here? If you've come to take back Hook-."

"I'm not here to take back anyone," he told the group. "My prerogative is not to return souls to him." He nodded at Emma. "That's your job."

"...Excuse me?"

"Why your the Underworld's new bounty hunter. That WAS your job before your son found you was it not?"

The blonde flinched at the memory. She hated that job and going back to it now… it would just remind her when she was nothing, a nobody who had no family.

But, she realized with a sigh as she nodded, that was probably exactly what Hades had in mind.

Byron nodded at David. "Your Highness, you're to work with Gaston at the animal shelter." He ignored Snow and looked at a glaring Regina. "Your Majesty, Hades has decided that you're to work in the stables."

Regina's eyes went wide as her heart began racing. No… No, she couldn't… every day in the place where Daniel had...

"No," the blue eyed thief barked at his father, interrupting her mid thought. "You're not making her work _there_. No one is telling her what she will or won't do."

"It's not up to you, Boy," Byron told him. "I didn't choose these jobs, Hades did."

"Then go back and tell the God of Death I'm happy to have more than a conversation," Robin shot back. "You're not making her go there."

"I can't make her go anywhere. However, I CAN tell her what will happen to her if she, or anyone who refuses their new roles; your Queen? She will leave the Underworld."

"So she'll get to go home?" Henry asked from behind his mother.

"No."

"So… where will she go?"

Byron just looked at the teenager.

"Someplace worse."

Regina took a shaky breath as she stepped out in front of Robin, only for him to grab her hand to stop her from getting too close.

"I'll do it," she told both Byron and Robin. "Work in… in the stables, I'll… I'll do it."

"Good." He turned towards his son. "And you… you'll be working with me."

"Never."

"Do we really need to go over what happens if you refuse again?"

"I don't care."

Byron glared at the man in front of him. How dare he embarrass him in front of the Queen? The royal family?

He would not stand for it.

"Do not embarrass me, Boy," Byron spat. "You're acting like a petulant child."

"I refuse to help you hurt these people," Robin told him. "I don't care what the punishment is, I don't care where I end up."

"Alright enough!" Regina barked, unable to even fathom her thief going 'someplace worse' than this literal Hell hole. She grabbed hold of Robins arm. "He'll do what you want."

"No, I won't."

"Yes you will," she snapped at her thief. "Because even just thinking of you going to 'someplace worse' is just…" A violent shudder ran through her spine. "I'm not going to do it, Robin. I won't, so… so you're just gonna have to do as he says until we figure out a way to go home."

Robin pursed his lips for a moment, hating everything about this bloody journey.

He, Regina and Henry should have just stayed back in Storybrooke. If Emma wanted to drag her parents with her to save her three hundred year old boyfriend after she had caused his death in the first place, she shouldn't have included Regina. There was no need to drag Regina down with her to this bloody horrid place.

Hook did not want to be the Dark One. He would have rather died than become the Dark One but Emma had changed him just she wouldn't have to be alone.

When Robin remembered what had happened he took her to the side and told her, flat out, if it ever came down to him losing his honor, his goodness, his integrity to dying, to just let him go.

Regina had stunned him when she had said the same. She would rather pass on than go back to the person she was...

But he wasn't about to voice those thoughts. Because that would be dishonorable to kick a woman while she was down. Plus it wasn't as if Emma had dragged Regina kicking and screaming, she had chosen to go, as had himself and Henry.

So, with an icy glare towards his father, he promised Regina more than anyone, that he would do his job.

Byron gave that curt nod that Robin so despised and clapped his son on the shoulder, having it thrown off by the thief.

"Don't touch me," Robin warned him.

Byron glared at his son and that familiar anger that rose up within him every other time the boy had embarrassed him or disrespected him rose up again.

Showing up to supper late, coming home with mud caked on his new cloak, practicing with that bloody bow so much that his fingers bled and his hands looked and felt like they belonged to some peasant, running away in the middle of the night before his marriage had even been consummated…

It was as if the boy was TRYING to upset him.

So, he did what he always did back when he was alive and the boy had shown him disrespect him.

"Bloody bastard," Byron growled before hitting Robin in the face as hard as he could, landing his fist perfectly in the ear, the same as his own father had hit him. You hit him first the ear, you make them disoriented, unable to fight back.

Robin fell back into David, clutching the Princes jacket to keep himself from falling to the ground. He had forgotten just how hard his father could throw a punch.

He closed his eyes against both voices screaming at him from inside himself.

Robin Hood, the illustrious thief and outlaw was yelling at him to fight back. He had embarrassed Robin in front of Regina, in front of Henry, he deserved to get hit. He was stronger, younger, far more light in his feet… he could take him easily.

But Robin Of Locksley, the proud nobleman, was sharply reminding him that no matter what, Byron was still his father. He was still Roland's grandfather. Robin still had his honor, and there was nothing honorable about striking your own father, no matter what he did to him.

And, like always, Robin's honor won out over everything else he was feeling.

However, he realized as he finally managed to straighten himself out and then back around, his code didn't apply to Regina, who currently had Byron several feet up off the ground and judging by the way he was clutching at his throat, had cut off his air supply as well, a look on her face that almost frightened the thief.

He had never seen her true evil mask before but, as he looked at her now, eyes narrowed in such hatred it radiated off of her and her lips pushed back into what he could only describe as a snarl, he realized she had put it back on for his father.

Robin shook the ringing from his head and walked back over to her.

"Regina, you're gonna kill him," he told her, not quite sure if she could hear him or not.

"He's already dead," she growled, squeezing his throat tighter. "I could do this for the next hundred years and he wouldn't die unfortunately…"

Robin leaned in closer so that only she could hear. "Henry doesn't need to see you like this. You're scaring your boy."

Regina glanced behind her and saw her son looking at the Queen with wide frightened eyes as Snow held him, the same eyes he used to look at her with when she threatened Emma or Snow. All at once the mask fell, replaced by an apologetic look and then Byron fell back onto the ground, gasping for air.

"Henry, I'm sorry," she told the teenager sincerely, not for hurting Byron but for frightening him.

The dark haired boy swallowed hard and nodded.

"It's- it's okay," he said, although Robin noticed he hadn't left his grandmothers protective embrace. "I get it… I'd wanna do the same thing if someone hit you."

Byron got off of the ground, throwing sharp daggers at the Queen.

"He's a worthless thief," he spat. "A pathetic worthless thief but you're willing to hurt others just to defend him?"

"Get out of here," Regina growled menacingly, and, to Byron's credit, he didn't even so much as flinch. He merely turned to his son and told him to be at the office at eight o'clock sharp before he faded away.

**You think it was all Hades who assigned these jobs or did Byron have a hand in it? And more importantly why? Please Review!**

 


	5. Chapter 5

**The Enchanted Forest, Fifteen Years Before the First Curse**

As supper time drew near his father sat Snow besides Robin as a way to encourage the future lord and the Princess to speak to one another.

Supper had went well.

Almost.

Dinner talk mostly consisted of Byron talking up Robin, being FAR more generous than he normally was. He wasn't the 'boy' who deserved to be hit so hard he saw stars for being a few coins short when he counted the taxes, he was Robin Of Locksley, a lords son. Robin was strong, a natural leader, strong, brave, strong… did Byron mention strong?

As Robin listened to his father praise him, he couldn't help but feel a bit of heartache. Byron didn't mention his honor. His integrity, his virtue, his honesty… Those, at least Robin thought, was what made him the man he was. Not that he could 'take on three knights at once with sword and ten with bow.' Didn't his father think those attributes were important as well?

Leopold nodded as he listened to Byron praise the boy he was trying to sell off and all Robin could think of was if he didn't see straight through the charade then their king was dumber than he looked and he already looked quite unintelligent.

Robin quickly grew bored of listening to this hypermasculinization of his person and finally turned his attention towards the shy small girl sitting beside him.

Snow sat politely and quietly beside him, poking at the roast pork on the plate in front of her with a fork as she frowned down at the piece of meat.

The blue eyed man remembered what his mother had said. Robin would be king, he wouldn't have to do ANYTHING with her until, or even IF, he wanted, even if that was 10 years from now.

Hadn't he been friendly with the local peasant children when his father sent him to connect their taxes? He could be just as friendly to this young girl without it meaning anything, in Robins view, immoral

"Not a fan of the roast, My lady?" Robin asked with a bit of a sad smile.

Snow quickly lifted her head up to look at the teenage and he was almost astounded at the way she could change from a frown to a cloyingly sweet polite smile.

"Oh I- I am, thank you. It's quite good, actually, I'm just not terribly hungry."

"Truth be told neither am I," Robin admitted. "Not to mention the kitchen staff tends to overcook the pork and that always sort of stunts my appetite."

He almost wanted to laugh at the look of relief on the young girls face when he told her he had shared, he assumed, her issues with the piece of meat in front of her.

"It is a bit dry," Snow admitted with a shy grin which made him chuckle.

Robin could do this. She was just another peasant child playing barefoot on his family's lands. If he could talk to them, he could talk to her.

"So, Your Majesty, what do you like to do for fun?" he asked the young princess as he took a sip of his wine.

"Horseback riding," Snow answered. "Papa says I'm one of the best riders in the land."

"I'm sure you are," Robin said appeasing the small girl, smiling at her when she beamed with childish pride.

"Thank you!" She cleared her throat as if she remembered she was a princess and didn't burst out words of thanks. "What do you like to do, Robin?"

"Archery," the young man told her. "I actually have quite the knack for it."

"Oh really?"

The comment came not from the young princess but from the head of the table and Robin turned towards the king who was looking at the teenager rather impressed.

"Locksley, you didn't tell me your son was an archer." He turned his attention back to Robin. "You prefer longbow or short?"

"Long," Robin told him, raising his brow when the king laughed, no, giggled, at the answer.

"All the young boys say that," he said more to Byron than Robin, playfully elbowing him in the ribs, perhaps the first person to ever do anything 'playful' to Byron. "They don't understand the shortbow is where all the power and speed is, they just like the look of the long."

"With all due respect, your Majesty, one doesn't need the speed or power of a shortbow when you have the necessary accuracy and skill," Robin argued as respectfully as he could.

His father whipped his head around faster than he ever had to throw a sharp glare at his son while the king giggled again.

"Perhaps." Robin bit the inside of his cheek to keep from arguing, knowing the king was just saying that to appease him, not because he actually agreed. Leopold leaned back in the chair almost looking smugly down at Robin. "What's the furthest bullseye you ever hit? Shortbow or," another insipid giggle, "longbow?"

The blue eyed teenager pursed his lips for a moment as he glanced between his already irate father and the king.

He, and his father, knew the truth of Robin's own skill. They knew just how accurate and talented he was with a bow. But they also heard how apt the king liked to think of himself as some hero amongst men including when it came to weaponry. If Robin told the truth, Leopold would become offended, he may even think he was lying.

But Robin was not about to lie just to make this sorry excuse for a king feel good about himself. So, with a deep breath and a cleared throat Robin answered, trying his best to sound as humble as he could.

"Four hundred yards."

Byron closed his eyes in exasperation as the king laughed, not giggled, straight up laughed at the boy.

"I've heard some tall tales meant to booster yourself but this might be the tallest I've heard yet!" He dabbed at the tears in his eyes before he spoke again through his laughter. "Seriously though, what's your longest bullseye?"

This time Robin squared his shoulders as he stared right down the table at the king.

"Four hundred yards," he said again, earning a sharply barked 'boy!' from Byron but Robin didn't care. He would not be made out to be a liar. "I hit the target dead center. With my longbow."

Another laugh from the king, this time far less humorous. "And let me guess your eyes were closed, it was storming and your hands were tied behind your back?" Leopold asked with a certain amount of snark that had even Byron raising his brow at their revered guest.

"How about we move onto dessert?" Ada quickly piped up in hopes of defusing a potentially dangerous situation.

Eva who quickly caught on to what the hostess was attempting nodded in earnest. "Oh yes, I think that sounds lovely.".

"It was daytime, my hands were right in front of me and both my eyes were wide open," Robin said, a sliver of that well hidden anger sliding to the surface.

"He isn't lying, Your Majesty," Byron finally spoke up when he realized his son wasn't willing to downplay his abilities with a bow. "God gave the boy a gift."

Leopold all but sneered at the teenager as he leaned back in his chair. "The real Gods can't give someone that much talent much less the fake one the people in this area like to worship." the king said as he took a sip of his wine.

Robin would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious. Byron of Locksley hated quite a few things but two particular things were almost at the top of the list, dwarfed only by whatever Robin had done to upset him that particular day and the peasants that lived on his land.

One was being called a liar and the other was the mocking of his religion, especially by someone who worshipped a plethora of deities instead of the Father and Holy Ghost that those in Nottingham, Locksley and Sherwood tended to give thanks to, and King Leopard had just done both in one sentence.

Byron fixed his stone hard look at the king for a moment before he stood up from the table, gripping the simple iron cross he wore around his neck.

"Boy, grab your bow," Byron commanded Robin who all but jumped up from the table before turning back to an infuriatingly amused Leopold. "Your Majesty, if you would be so inclined, my son would be honored to showcase his suburb archery skills to you."

So, with another un-king like giggle, the crowd of noble and royals headed outside, a simple red and white painted target measured 400 yards out.

"If I find out you were lying just to bolster yourself..." Byron muttered quietly to Robin as the King stood several feet behind them, still amused at what he thought was a charade.

"I wasn't," Robin argued as respectfully as he could, low enough so the king couldn't hear him. "I can hit that bullseye."

"You should have just lied and said your best was at three," Byron reprimanded. "I've seen you slick a shaft through a rabbits eye at three hundred yards half a hundred times."

"Would you downplay yourself? Especially for that spineless man?" Robin asked, already knowing the answer was a resounding 'no'. "Why should I be expected to?"

Byron just cast a sharp glare at his son but could say nothing else in response because, as rare as it was, the boy was right.

Lord Byron himself was almost unmatched when it came to swinging a sword. Not as skilled as the boy was when it came to a bow, but he would not belittle his own talents for that gutless giggling goof of a Royal.

"Don't miss, Boy," was all Byron said before he stepped back to stand besides an apprehensive Ada.

"Wait," Leopold said as Robin lifted his arm to take aim. The grey haired king waited until the young archer was looking at him before he continued. That insufferable pompous looking smile was back. "Let's make this interesting… You miss the bullseye, this potential contract is disavowed. You sink it, I'll set the date for a year from now. A royal wedding takes time to plan, you know."

Byron immediately shouted at Robin, who had just barely parted his lips in order to agree or protest, he wasn't quite sure which, to "shut your mouth!" before he turned to the smug king. "As much as we appreciate the offer, as you are well aware, Your Grace, in Sherwood and Nottingham as well as Locksley it is forbidden to wager against royalty."

"Oh pissposh, it's only illegal for those that live in this area to bet against King Richard. It's perfectly legal to bet against me." He smirked at the man standing in front of him. "Unless, of course, you feel that your son doesn't

possess the skills needed to hit the bullseye. In which case we can go back inside and finish our meal."

Byron glanced between the boy, who was fighting to keep the hopeful look off his face, and the conceited king. The boy could hit the target. He was sure of it, the boy was too humble for his own good, he wouldn't have said he could make the bullseye if he couldn't. But now that the boy had a chance to put an end to this contract by intentionally missing...

Byron walked back over to the boy, leaning in close and whispering something low in his ear. Ada watched as her sons face went almost deathly pale and his wide frightened eyes flickered back to his mother for a moment before he turned back to his father and he nodded.

Byron didn't waste a second before he turned back Leopold and gave him a curt nod.

"My son accepts your wager, Your Majesty."

Judging by the look on the King's face, they all had a feeling that the bet had only been brought up as a way to put an end to what he was sure was an exaggerated brag. Only now it had turned into a legally binding gamble.

The two families watched with bated breath as Robin took aim at the target none of them could even see. His hands shook so violently that he actually had to lower them for a moment and Ada's heart pounded. Robin had never been nervous when he took aim before. As a matter of fact when he held a bow in his hands was when he was at his most confident.

Ada took her stoic husband aside, whispering her question low enough so the royal family couldn't hear her.

"What did you threaten him with if he missed the shot?" she demanded.

Byron barely blinked before he answered with a chilling; "your life."

Ada's eyes went wide and her hand went to her mouth as they turned back to Robin, both of them missing the young princess mouth 'please miss' over and over.

Robin quickly wiped the unfallen tears and sweat from his eyes that was blinding him. His aim had to be perfect, as true as it had ever been before. He slapped his hand against his thigh to rid his fingers of the trembles that had possessed it and held his breath as he brought the arrow up, setting the fletcher against his cheek.

He didn't breathe. He didn't blink. He didn't move as he took aim at the shot he had only made once before after fifteen different attempts but now had to be perfect on his first try.

With a prayer to both his and his father's God and the Gods of the rest of the Enchanted Forest, Robin released the arrow.

He watched as it flew as straight and true as any arrow he had shot before, watched it sail while thinking of the blonde green eyed woman standing behind him who he would die to protect, watched, with both an unequal joy and unmatched sorrow, as the arrow sank into the dead center of the target.

**The Underworld, Present Day**

_Slunk!_

_Slunk!_

_Slunk!_

"If you want, I'm pretty sure you could go and shoot down some haunted birds for dinner."

Robin ignored the Queens words as he sank arrow after arrow into the makeshift target on the edge of the forest where her magic had traced him.

After Byron had disappeared from the cemetery the Charmings went back to their loft while Emma, Henry and Hook headed to their home by the sea. Since Regina's home was currently occupied by Cruella it was decided they would be staying on the Charmings pullout.

Fantastic.

Robin told Regina he just needed a while to clear his head, a moment to take in everything that had happened and Regina had gave him his space. It was the least she could do for him.

That was hours ago. She had gotten concerned enough that she had used her magic to track him down to the edge of the forest where she found him drowning in a bottle and a half deep of whiskey (that she prayed he somehow haggled with or bought rather than stole), his jacket and hoodie tossed aside and shooting his arrows on a crudely painted target on one of the trees.

He took a break to take a drink and readied another arrow and sent it flying, sinking it in the bullseye once again.

"I'm sorry about your father," she told him softly. Another arrow, another bullseye. "I know how it feels to run into a parent down here. Especially one you don't particularly miss."

Another bullseye.

Regina pursed her lips as she went over and sat on a stump beside him, picking up one already empty bottle while he worked on another. She hadn't realized drunk brooding Robin was a thing and truth be told she wasn't exactly a fan of this particular version of her soulmate.

"So you're just gonna just sit here drinking and shooting arrows until we get out of here? Not talking to anyone, not talking to me… Smart plan."

Robin sighed as he lowered his bow, taking a drink of his whiskey.

"I don't want to- to burden you with my problems," he told her with a slur in his words she never heard before.

It was a half truth. He really didn't want to lay all of his issues at her feet. The fact that his issues involved him marrying her step daughter was just an added bonus. "You have more than enough of your own, you- I mean you're a Queen, Regina. You shouldn't hear about my issues."

Regina got up off her her stump and walked over to her, wrapping her arms around him. "Robin, your problems aren't a burden."

"They are though, M'lady." Robin waited a moment before he chuckled, taking another sip of his whiskey. "'M'lady'… that's not quite right is it?"

"I… don't know what you're talking about." She offered him a soft smile, taking hold of his calloused and rough hand. "But I do love when you call me that."

Robin shook his head as he pulled out of her grasp and took another swig from the almost empty bottle he had sitting beside him.

"It's not correct though. It's 'MY Lady'," Robin told her, over enunciating the 'I' sound. "Not 'MUH-Lady'. That's how peasants say that particular phrase. It's offensive to noble women's ears to hear crass peasant speak," he said in an almost perfect impression of the hardened man Regina had met earlier in the day. Another drink of the amber liquid. "So I apologize, My Lady, if I've upset you with my crude tongue."

"Robin, please just put the bottle down and come home," she pleaded softly.

"Have I offended you again, My Lady?"

"Stop calling me that."

"Apologies, My Lady."

He lifted the bottle to his lips again only for Regina to snatch it away with a sharp glare to match.

"You aren't getting drunk in hell."

"I'm quite sorry to disappoint you, My Lady, but I believe I'm already drunk in hell."

She rolled her eyes as he readied another arrow, sending it sailing down the selfmade range and landing perfectly inside the little bullseye.

"How the hell are you this drunk but still manage to hit a perfect bullseye?" asked Regina, half annoyed but still rather impressed at his skills.

A careless shrug of his shoulders as he nocked another bow. The alcohol made the world surrounding him swirl but his instincts, the muscle memory, his almost inhuman talent all saw through the whiskey induced fog. "After he stopped pretending not to be impressed that a ten year old could hit a target dead center two hundred yards out, my father told others that God revered him so much that He gave him a son with a gift." Robin muttered as he pulled the arrow back. "It wasn't about my skill that I had honed, it wasn't about me practicing until my fingers bled, it wasn't me getting up at sunrise and not wanting to put a bow down until sunset." Another release. "It was my father's blessing." Another bullseye.

Robin reached into his now empty quiver and came up empty handed. "I'm out of arrows." He picked up the glass bottle that he had finished off, not noticing the still quarter full one in Regina's hand. "And I'm out of whiskey."

"Yes you are," the Queen said as she tossed the bottle behind her with a crash. "Now come on, let's go back to the Charmings, it's getting late."

He shook his head, even more blonde pieces than usual falling in his face.

"I'm not- no, I'm not going back to that perfect princess and a man who put his baby in a wardrobe." He stumbled over to her, wrapping his arms around her neck, barely giving her enough time to steady herself before they both fell to the forest floor.

"Jesus, Robin!"

"You though… you're just- you're perfect," he slurred.

She took a deep breath, feeling a monster of a headache coming on. God she hated dealing with drunks. She had enough of that when she was married to the king but at least Robin wasn't groping her or beating her because she was protesting his groping.

"Thank you, but I really think we need to get going."

Robin groaned, putting his head in her shoulder.

"I want you to have my baby, Regina," he muttered against her skin. "I don't want Zelena to have my baby, I want YOU to have my baby."

The dagger that had been in her heart ever since she had gone to New York to rescue him twisted itself even further into her flesh.

Tears flew to her eyes as she stroked the back of his head, hating his stupid drunken truthfulness.

"I know," was all Regina said, leaving out the fact that technically no one was 'having' his child seeing as how his daughter had been born just two weeks prior.

"I don't want Snow to have my baby either," he mumbled.

Regina had to bite her lip as a laugh threatened to break through, starting to guide him back to town hoping to get there without using her magic which was still not up to snuff.

"I don't think you have to worry about that, Robin."

He stopped suddenly, bringing her to a swift halt. She huffed as she rubbed her temples. She just wanted to go home and forget that she was stuck in the Underworld with her drunk boyfriend and his abusive father.

"Because Snow, she-... Emma's a bloody bitch," he said as he stumbled. "Snow raised a bitch. I- my kids aren't gonna be bitches like Emma is."

The Queen smirked as she steadied her soulmate. "Oh trust me, I agree… but to be fair Snow didn't actually raise her. Emma became a bitch all on her own."

"She could have raised my bitch."

"Alright, Robin, come on we gotta go home."

"She- we're married, Regina…"

Another roll of her eyes as she waved her hands, appearing back in the Charmings loft the next second.

Regina just gave an annoyed look to the slightly confused prince and princess as Robin wobbled dangerously before falling over onto the couch.

"I- I'm not drunk," Robin muttered face down in the cushions while his lower half was on the hardwood floor. "I'm telling the truth."

"Of course you are."

She went over and grabbed a mug as well as the pot of coffee that the Charmings had made earlier.

"Me and Snow, we- for three days." Robin groaned as he fought to stand up before deciding that laying half on the couch was the best place for him right now. "She- I was a Prince."

"Well that's just absolutely impossible and completely nonsensical," said Snow as hastily as she could, taking a quick sip of coffee. "I never even met Robin before I met him in the forest with you for the first time."

Regina looked at her step daughter.

"Trust me, I don't believe you and Robin had some super secret marriage."

"Good because we didn't."

"She's lying," Robin grumbles from his place on the couch. "We- we were married but we didn't have any kids. I- she- our kids would have been just like Emma, and Emma's-."

With a quick wave of Regina's hand her thief fell asleep before he started what she was sure would have caused a fight.

"... What was he going to say about Emma?" Charming asked as Regina magicked the couch into the pullout.

"Nothing," the brown eyed queen lied as she went over and covered the sleeping outlaw with the blanket they had set out. "He was going to say nothing…"

—

"Did they suspect anything?"

"No, Your Holiness."

Hades grinned at his resident landlord, clapping his hands together.

"Excellent! I wish you had died much sooner, Locksley, I could have used your skills during the plague."

Byron gave the God a courteous nod as he clinked his wine glass against the former Lord.

"Thank you, Your Holiness."

"You're welcome. Now..." He set his drink down on the table beside him and folded his long fingers together. "Have you figured out a way to get what I need?"

"The first part, yes. The boy is working with me, so that bit should be easy enough."

"Smart move suggesting that."

"Thank you, Your Holiness. But if I may, why did you have the Queen work in the stables? She and the boy seemed rather… upset at that particular career choice."

Hades just smirked. "She'll know why. Besides there's someone up on earth that I'm trying rather hard to impress and Regina's constant suffering will make it all the more sweeter for them. As well as Robin's death."

"Oh? Do you mind me asking who?"

Hades quirked an eyebrow at the man sitting across from him but said nothing in response.

"Forgive me if I've offended Your Holiness but if the boys death is going to impress someone, I believe I have a right to know."

This. This was why Byron was one of Hades most preferred souls. Nothing seemed to faze him, not even what was an essential 'did you really just ask that?' look from the God of Death himself.

Sure being feared was nice. Preferred even. But boldness and respect was nice too.

"Yes I suppose you do…"

Hades waved his hand and in a poof of menacing orange smoke several illustrated pages from a storybook of all things appeared in his hand. He handed Byron the top one, proofing away the others to a location no one but the God of Death knew.

"Her name," Hades said as Byron looked at the illustration of the red headed green skinned woman. "Is Zelena…"

Please Review!


	6. Chapter 6

**The Enchanted Forest, Fifteen Years Before the First Curse**

 

“I think velvet and some kind of soft cloth instead of leather. What do you think? Robin? Robin, are you listening?”

Robin blinked as he looked up from his breakfast plate, his eyes falling on his mother who was watching him.

“I’m so sorry, Mother, what was that?”

“For the reception.”

“What about it?”

Ada sighed softly before she spoke rather shortly. “Were you even listening to a word I’ve been saying?”

Ashamedly he shook his head. “I’m sorry, my mind was elsewhere.”

It had been three months since Robin had won Snow White's hand in marriage with a well placed arrow in a target four hundred yards out. Most plans and preparation were being done by the royal family so Robins input wasn’t needed too much on things, nor would he have to actually move up to the capital in the Northern Kingdom until about a month before the wedding. 

But one thing that his father had insisted on their end planning was the outfits Robin would be wearing. After Leopold made the comment about how dashing the young archer would look in that sickening gold color with a ‘large white flower on his doublet’, Byron has insisted that Robin was wearing his own colors and his much more masculine lion sigil on his chest.

Ada sighed again, reaching across the table and taking her son’s hand. “I know this is hard for you, Robin-.”

“It’s not hard. It’s not,” he insisted when she raised her brow. “Snow is… she’ll be a very good Queen.”

“She will,” Ada agreed. “She’s also still a child.”

The corners of his mouth turned up in a sad smile. “I know.”

“You don’t… you don’t have to  _ do _ anything with her.”

“You really think father won’t be checking the sheets for blood? You think he isn’t above making healers traumatize that little girl to ‘check’ to see if we did our ‘duty’?”

“You’ll be a King,” Ada reminded him. “You can finally tell…” The words caught in her throat, as if she was terrified the very walls had ears. “You can tell whomever you want ‘no’.”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever told father ‘no’ in his entire life,” Robin muttered as he poked at his eggs with his fork.

Ada merely smiled before she reached out and took hold of her son’s hand. “There’s a first time for everything.”

“First time for what?” asked Byron as he made his way into the dining hall.

The green eyed woman gave Robins hand a light squeeze before she turned towards her husband. “Robin was just talking about how they frown on letting royalty into jousting and archery tournaments because the other competitors might just let them win,” she lied effortlessly.

“You’re going to be King, why worry about some silly little tournament?” Byron asked as he picked up his breakfast, a fried egg and blackened bacon between two pieces of brown bread that had been fried in fat.

“How will I know if my skills are slipping when I’ve no one to compete against?” said Robin, voicing a legitimate concern of his. 

“True.” A noisy bite of his sandwich. “But that’s a minor concern for another day. Are you dressed for riding, Boy?”

“Yes, Father.”

“Good. After your breakfast I want you to take some of the guards and go to the western lands. There’s been reports of someone poaching deer in that area so you need to go house to house, see if anyone’s seen anything. If you find the culprit I want you to chip off his arm at the elbow. Let the criminal see if he can hunt with only one hand.”

Robins heart jumped into his throat as he quickly glanced back down at his meal.

He knew all about the poaching in the area. He knew who was responsible for it as well…

Robin couldn’t let the peasants starve because his father had wanted to squeeze the people who lived on his land dry. He thought he was being careful about it but apparently he hadn’t been as cautious as he thought he had been.

Judging by the look on his mother's face, she knew exactly who the poacher was as well as Robin...

“I’m authorizing a reward for five hundred gold pieces for information leading to the capture,” Byron continued.

“Yes, Father,” was all Robin said, stuffing a forkful of eggs into his mouth to keep from carrying on any more conversation.

An hour later Robin and two of the household guards had their horses saddled and were making their way to the first of many houses on the western part of their lands.

His heart pounded as loud as it ever had before as the first door was answered by a young man that Robin had just given a deer three days prior.

“M’lord,” Moche, the son of the miller greeted Robin rather shocked. He hadn’t expected to see Robin for another week or so, at least, much less flanked by two unamused armored guards. “The taxes aren’t due for another three weeks.”

“I know,” Robin said, keeping his voice as even as he could make it. “There um… there’s been some reports of someone poaching deer in your lords forest. Do… do you have any idea who it might be?”

“The kings offered 500 gold pieces to whomever has any information that leads to an arrest,” the guard to Robins left added.

Moche raised his brow at the new information. “Five hundred gold pieces for the name of the man poaching? That’s a lot of bloody money… That’d feed me and me dad for about a month solid.”

“It would. And…” Robin closed his eyes, licking his dry lips. “Not a soul on this earth would blame you for taking it.”

“Not a soul?”

Robin shook his head, opening his eyes and looking straight into Moche’s grey-green ones. “Not a one. I promise you.”

Moche bit his lip as he looked at Robin for a moment. His hands clenched into a tight fist and unclenched. Robin gave him a sad smile and a barely noticeable nod. “It’s alright,” he mouthed silently to the peasant who lived on his land, preparing himself for the inevitable fallout from the man naming him.

Moche took a deep breath before he turned to the guards. “Sorry, Mates. I ain’t heard anything.”

Robin furrowed his brow in confusion as the man looked back at his lord. 

“Not a thing? You’re sure?” Robin asked, not quite sure what he was hearing.

“I’m sure. I hope you catch him though, M’lord. It’s a bloody shame that M’lords deer are being slaughtered.”

The blue eyed teenager merely smiled. “That it is. Thank you, Moche. Give my wishes to your father…”

So it was home after home, hovel after hovel, all peasants shared the same lie. That they had no idea who was poaching the deer, none had any information on the hoodlum, none had any clue who might have been responsible when several of them Robin knew had the meat he had given them in the stew pot as they spoke to him.

They protected him. They were protecting Robin. He had helped them, so they were helping him… 

He had never felt so happy as he did right then.

By the time he visited the last tiny hovel on his list, Robin was elated and full of a joy and pride he had never before felt and all the while his mind was whirling.

If these peasants were willing to protect him and choose to save him over five hundred gold pieces, perhaps he should be giving more than just a dead stag every few weeks…

He knocked on the final door he was supposed to visit, no longer feeling his heart clench in fear but now it fluttered with newfound love for the men and women who lived on his land.

The man who greeted Robin was well known to him. He had come up from the southern kingdom so he had that warm brown skin and dark features that was prevalent in that area of Misthaven. He had only lived in Nottingham a year or so but he had struggled with rent every month, and it had killed Robin that this kind old farmer was forced to damn near break his back every month just to pay for a few acres and a one room shoddy home.

“M’lord,” the man greeted with a respectful bow of his head, the accent that was so common in the area nowhere to be found on his tongue, instead speaking with the non existent accent that most of Misthaven spoke with. “How may I help you?”

“We’re looking for a man poaching deer in the area,” Robin announced. “My father’s offered five hundred gold pieces to whomever has information on the criminal.”

The dark curly haired man looked at Robin for a moment before he pursed his lips and shook his head. “Sorry, don’t know what you’re talking about. If I see anything I’ll let you know.”

Robin smelled the deer meat roasting inside.

“Understood. Thank you for your time, Sir.”

“Of course, My-.”

“Are you kidding me?!”

The group of men turned towards the new voice and saw a young woman riding a handsome grey steed towards the tiny hovel. 

The second Robin laid eyes on the girl, his heart sped up and slowed at the same time, his lungs were inhaling and exhaling all to fast and far too slow all at once. His jaw dropped, his blue eyes widened, and every other thought but her left his mind.

She was beautiful. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Dark brown eyes and long dark brown almost black tressles of hair cascaded down her back. Her figure was hid under a plain rather frumpy wine colored peasant dress but he could see even at sixteen she had a woman’s body, curvy and beautiful and perfect for holding at night.

Robin of Locksley was in love. 

The girl rode nearer, her brown eyes narrowed in intense dislike at the young man.

“My father paid you the rent just five days ago, now you show up with soldiers at his door?!” she barked at Robin, pulling her horse right alongside his so she could throw a fire filled glare at him.

It took a moment for Robin to recover from his love struck heart and he cleared his throat before he could answer.

“For-... forgive me, My Lady, I’m not here about the rent.”

“Then what are you doing here?” the brown eyed woman snarled. “Why are you here?” she demanded.

“They’re looking for poachers, that’s it,” the older man answered for the blue eyed teen. “My lord this is my daughter; Marian Dubois. She's come up from the southern kingdom to stay with me awhile. Marian, this is Robin of Locksley, our Lord’s son.”

“It is an honor and a privilege to make your acquaintance, My lady,” Robin said as he held out his hand in hopes that she would take it so he could bring it to his lips. However Marian ignored his gesture and instead just crossed her arms in front of her chest. 

“I wish I could say the same.”

“Marian!” her father chastised but she ignored the scolding, as well as the warning looks from the two guards. 

“You bleed him and every other peasant in this land dry rather it be rent or taxes for worthless homes that are falling apart, you take almost all of our food, you offer us no protection… you and your father are nothing but thieves.”

“Hold your tongue, peasant bitch!” one of the guards snarled. 

Before Robin could even blink the guard raised his hand and back handed Marian as hard as he could, making the girl fall from her horse with a loud painful cry.

Without so much as half a second passed and Robin had his bow in his hand and an arrow from his quiver aimed at the guards throat.

“You raise a hand to her again, I promise you will lose that hand!” the young lord bellowed at the soldier.

He was forced to endure his father hitting his mother, but he wouldn’t suffer an innocent woman being beaten simply for having a sharp tongue, least of all by some guard in his employment.

Without waiting for a response Robin jumped down from his horse and hurried over to the young maiden, kneeling beside her as she clutched at her now bruised cheek.

“Are you alright, My Lady?” he asked her gently.

Marian stole a glance at him for only a moment before she turned her gaze back to the ground. 

“I’m fine,” she told him. When Robin assisted her by grabbing hold of his hand and helping her up, she raised a brow but did nothing else in response. 

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked the young woman once more as he steadied her on her feet. Marian nodded, wrapping her arms around herself.

Robin walked over to the guard that hit her, glaring up at the man.

“Give me your helmet,” he demanded with a tone that rivaled his father. The soldier did as he was told and Robin handed it to Marian.

“Take this to the armorer in town, you can probably get 200 silver for it.”

“I bought that with my own pay!” the guard protested to which Robin merely replied that he could either get rid of the helmet or explain to his father why he no longer had his horse after he walked back to the castle.

After that the guard didn’t seem to mind donating his helmet anymore.

Marian took the helmet from Robin, the corner of her lips tugging upwards. “Perhaps you’re not quite the monster I thought you were,” she told him.

“Perhaps not.”

With a warm smile that, although she would never admit it, sent Marian’s heart aflutter, Robin climbed back atop his horse.

“Marian,” he said with a polite inclination with his head before turning to her father and doing the same with him. “Roland. I hope you two have a pleasant day.”

“You too, M’lord,” Roland told Robin before he and the two guards headed back to the castle.

 

**The Underworld, Present Day**

 

“Wake up. Robin, wake up.”

The thief groaned loudly, rolling over on the springy pull out mattress so instead of being face down he was staring up at his Queen, shielding his eyes from the harsh red light streaming in through the windows.

“Where am I?” he muttered.

“On the Charmings couch.”

“How did I get here?”

“Well you sound like you’re feeling your best.” Regina said rather dryly as she held out a hot mug of coffee and two aspirin. “And to answer your question; Magic.”

Robin groaned as he sat up, ignoring the painful pounding in his head and the horrid twisting of his stomach. He put his head in his hand, shame filling up every ounce of his being not already filed with regret.

He hadn’t gotten drunk, this drunk to the point he didn’t remember the night before, since Marian had passed away. For a solid three months on the nights he didn’t have guard duty it would be spent drinking from the bottle he hid in his quiver until that pulsating pain in his heart went away for a short time.

But one day he had gotten so inebriated; Robin actually shouted at the three year old Roland to the point it scared him. He couldn’t even remember what it was for, nor did it matter, but Robin brought tears to his sons eyes and made him run and hide, something his own father used to do to him far too many times to count, something Robin SWORE he would never do to his own children.

After that, the thief never again got that inebriated. A glass of ale with his men now and again to celebrate a job well done but one glass and that was it. 

Apparently last night Robin forgot the vow he made to himself…

“I apologize, M’lady,” he muttered as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I shouldn’t have gotten that intoxicated, least of all in front of you. It was wrong of me and I apologize.”

“Well at least you’re calling me ‘M’lady’ again,” muttered Regina.

Robin looked up at her, grimacing at the simple movement but confused by her words. That was his only pet name for her, she loved him calling her that, why would he stop using that pet name? 

“Pardon?”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing, just go shower.”

Robin nodded, standing up from the pull out and buried a calloused hand in her dark hair. “I am sorry for my behavior, Regina. I promise you it won’t happen again.”

She looked over his face for a moment and, like every other time he promised something, the Queen knew he was telling her the truth.

“I believe you,” she told him just as honest as he was with her. “Just… I want you to talk to me, Robin,” she pleaded. “I know how much it hurts having an abusive parent down here. I can help you.”

“I just… I hate burdening you with my problems,” he admitted. “I’m supposed to be there for you.”

“We’re supposed to be there for  _ each other _ .” Regina took his face in her hands. “I’m not gonna let you face this alone.”

A soft warm smile lit up his face as he reached up and took her hand in his. “I know you won’t, M’lady.”

An hour later Robin, looking far more awake than he had been earlier in the morning made his way downstairs to where Snow was making them all a breakfast of eggs and bacon, dressed in his signature cargo pants, grey hoodie and leather jacket and dark grey neck scarf.

“Are you sure that’s safe to eat down here?” he asked as he took a seat besides Regina, declining a plate and sticking with a thermos of coffee. 

“Well we haven’t been sick yet,” David said while he assembled a fried egg and bacon sandwich.

“Plus Anette said it was safe for the living to eat,” Snow added as she took a sip of orange juice.

Regina raises a brow at her step daughter. “Your old chambermaid is still down here?” 

“Yeah, it’s sad she’s been here for a while.” Snows face fell. “You didn’t murder her did you?”

Regina scoffed, offended. “You act like I killed everyone you ever cared about!”

“Regina…”

She took a guilty bite of toast. “...Well… I didn’t kill EVERYONE you ever cared about. Including Annette.”

Satisfied with her answer Snow continued. “Anyway she says everything down here is safe for the living.”

Robin, armed with the assurances that the food was, according to someone Snow trusted, safe to eat he grabbed a piece of toast and took a small bite.

“So you feeling any better?” David asked the thief.

“I’m sorry?”

“You were out of it last night, Robin, I mean… VERY out of it.” David chuckled as he took a bite of his sandwich. “You were so drunk you said that you and Snow were married.”

“Which I told them is of course totally ridiculous and preposterous,” Snow said quickly while Robin choked on the bit of coffee he just drank.

Regina eyed the two of them curiously. Of course she knew Robin and Snow weren’t married, that would have been preposterous. Yet… there was a lot of protesting from the princess on this front. 

No. No, Leopold or Snow would have said something. Not to mention Regina would have remembered going to a wedding for the young princess. 

The Queen shook the idea from her head, taking a sip of her coffee. There was no way Robin and Snow had been married…

“Obviously, Snow,” Regina told her, missing the relief flooding Robin’s face. She turned towards her thief and nodded at his rather casual outfit. “That’s what you’re going to work with your father in?”

“Yes. If he doesn’t like it he’s more than welcome to fire me.”

“Just be careful because I think that meaning has a lot more consequences here,” David said.

Robin ignored the warning and stood up from his chair, pouring the cup into a travel mug and coming back over to Regina. “What time do you have to be at the stables?”

“About an hour,” she answered. “I actually should probably get dressed.”

Robin nodded before he bent down and gave her a quick kiss. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I’ll be fine,” she told him, her words far more confident than she felt which she had a feeling Robin saw right through. 

“Even so, call me okay?”

After promising she would and the two of them sharing one more miss Robin grabbed his travel mug and bow, slung his quiver over his shoulder and walked out of the apartment, flinching when he looked upwards.

He was never going to get used to that eerie foreboding blood tinged sky…

As he walked down the sidewalk he felt a fear take hold of him as he passed by those also walking to their work, all of whom looked at him with envy and longing and anger all for the fact he was breathing. He always believed there were two places you went after death; heaven or hell. You didn’t waste time in a dreary miserable in-between place, least one where you had to work and people you envied for living could walk right in.

God he hoped they could get Hook home soon…

Robin walked into the building his father owned and rose the elevator up to the floor he was told he would be working. When he got to the office he knew his father would be the thief took a deep breath, steeling his face before he walked in with his chest out and head held high.

The office was rather nice, he had to admit. The carpet was a deep forest green while the walls were a dark rich brown, with the Locksley lion symbol on one side and various paintings of long dead artists on the other.

Byron looked up from the paperwork at his desk, an exceptionally large piece full of paperwork and a laptop, glowering at the ensemble his son choose to wear. “You couldn’t have worn something appropriate?”

“I don’t like suits,” Robin told him with a shrug, taking a seat opposite him.

“Well I don’t like disobedient and obnoxiously stubborn sons yet there you sit.” 

Robin shrugged again, watching as Byron got up from his spot and headed over to the closet, pulling out a sleek stylish suit with black trousers and a forest green jacket and tie along with a pair of dress socks and shoes.

“I anticipated this little act of immature rebellion,” Byron announced. “Go get changed.”

“I’m fine with the outfit I have on now,” Robin challenged. “I’m not changing.”

“You are changing, you look like a thug.”

“I look fine.”

“Boy!” Robin fought against not flinching. “You do as I say or there WILL be consequences! I realize I’ve been gone a while but I assume you remember what the penalty is for arguing with me and embarrassing me?” Byron all but threw the suit at him, glaring at his son who was giving him an icy stare right back. “There’s going to be a clash between us soon, I know it, you know it. You really want it to be on this particular hill?”

Shaking his head not only at the fact his father was threatening to beat him because he wore comfortable clothes to what amounted to a fake job but the fact that he was actually obeying him, Robin stood up with the clothes and headed for the washroom just around the corner from his office, returning dressed in the suit his father supplied him with his more comfortable clothing over his arm and hunting boots in his hand.

“I can’t fire a bow in this,” Robin grumbled as he took his seat again. “The sleeves are too tight.”

“Unless you dipped your arrows into the river of souls there’s a total of six people you could hurt with your bow down here; those you came down here with and yourself. Your skills in archery down here are about as useless as your skills in anything else.”

Letting the insult roll off his back, Robin just leaned back in the chair trying desperately to get comfortable. “So what do we do here?”

“ _ I  _ manage a number of buildings both businesses and residentials and oversee all operations. Nearly everything in this section of Hades but Granny’s and the Pawnshop belongs to me.  _ You  _ will be in charge of rent collection and evictions.”

Robins hand curled into a fist and he glared at the man sitting in front of him. “Are you’ve joking?”

“I’m putting you in charge of a necessary part-.”

“You want me to kick people out of their homes!” he shouted, not caring about the dangerous look in his father’s eyes that followed. “You want me to be the one to tell them their homeless!”

Byron slammed his fist down on his desk making Robin flinch.

“Do NOT raise your voice to me, Boy!”

The blue eyed thief took a deep breath, fighting to keep his usually evened temper from rising but at the same time he was no longer a child. He didn’t have to bow to the whims of his father, he had grown into a leader, a hero, nearly every person in the world knew his name.

Robin Hood was not about to be intimidated by a dead man. 

“I will not kick someone out of their home,” said Robin, doing his best to pretend his heart wasn’t pounding.

“Stubborn bastard!” Byron snarled as he came around the desk. Robin jumped up from the chair but held his ground as his father got within an inch of his space. “Did you forget you work for me, Boy?! Did you forget I’m not only your boss but your Lord and father?! So help me, Boy if you don’t reign this defiance I’ll-!”

“You’ll what?”  Robin finally had enough. He was sick and tired of his father demeaning him, insulting him, beating him… It stopped today. “You’ll hit me? You’ll threaten me, you’ll hang me again? I would rather cut off my own arm than raise a hand to my children but here you stand-!”

“Children? I thought you just had the one?”

Robin froze any word that was supposed to follow, swallowing the rest of his sentence. Byron wasn’t supposed to know about her. The thief wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed of his newest child or anything of the sort. He loved and adored that little girl, he would have died for her. But he knew his father already didn’t accept Roland and he was born to a woman Robin loved and had been married to… his little girl had been born out of wedlock to his soul mates sister, conceived under less than desirable circumstances. There was no way there wouldn’t be a barrage of insults towards his daughter and Robin genuinely didn’t know if he could have held back from going after him.

“Is it the peasant girls?” 

“Her name was Marian,” he shot back sharply. “And no she isn’t her mother.”

Byron’s eyes lit up with possibility. “Is it the Queen's?”

_ I wish.  _ “No.”

“Then…” Byron’s face hardened as the realization hit  him like a brick. His shaking hands curled into a fist and Robin took a step away from him, eyeing his bow in the corner of the room. He may not have been able to kill him but he could slow him down enough to run out…

“Is she a bastard?”

“Don’t call her that!” Robins temper flared as high as it ever had before. “Don’t you ever call her that again!”

“You had a bloody bastard out of wedlock?!”

“I said don’t-!”

**!BAM!**

Robin fell against the wall, his cheek throbbing from the hit his father gave that landed squarely on his face. He barely had time to pull his hand away from his face when Byron hit him again, making his ear ring and disorient him to the point he almost slid down the wall.

“A bastard!” Byron shouted, pacing in front of the thief. “You had to go have a bloody bastard?!”

“She’s your blood!” yelled Robin, forcing himself to stand on his feet. “She is your granddaughter! Okay and she is beautiful and precious and I would die for that girl just like I would do for Roland or Henry or Regina, just like you should have been willing to do for me and Mother!”

“She’s a bastard,” Byron snarled as if that cancelled out everything Robyn had said, and he had a sickening feeling it did. “You couldn’t control yourself and probably got some tavern slut pregnant and now you’re saddled with a burden… First you embarrass the Locksley name by becoming a thief and abandoning your responsibilities-.”

“I didn’t abandon my responsibilities!”

“But then you had to sire a bastard!? Byron continued as if his son hadn’t of spoken. “I knew you were pathetic, Boy, I just had no idea how much.”

“You know you are so-!”

“What?” Byron snapped dangerously rounding on Robin and getting within an inch of his face. “I’m so what, Boy?”

The two Locksley’s stared one another down for what felt like a lifetime each knowing that were the other one to even flinch it would result in bloodshed, neither one so much as breathing until a familiar dark purple color arrival of smoke and that tell tale ‘poof’ appeared right in front of him and when the smoke cleared moments later a sobbing hysterical Regina was standing in its wake who wasted no time in wrapping her arms around him and sobbing into his shoulders.

Robin immediately embraced her tightly, looking an understandably confused Byron for a possible answer as he stroked her hair.”

“Regina what happened?” he asked, trying his best to keep his panic from showing. “Did someone hurt you?”

She sobbed a few unintelligible words, clutching his suit jacket so tight he was sure her nails were about to tear it. He had never seen her like this and truth be told it was terrifying.

“I- I don’t understand. Talk to me, M’lady, tell me what happened.”

“It’s the same!” the only words he found distinguish from her sobs.

“What is? Are you hurt? What’s happened?”

“The stables!” she cried, clutching him tighter. “It’s the same stables, everything’s the same, it- it’s the same stables he died in, Robin!”

Robin closed his eyes against his own tears, holding her while she sobbed into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Regina…”

“I can’t do it, Robin I can’t, I-!” Another heartbreaking sob. “Please I can't go back there!”

“You don’t have to,” he promised her, kissing the top of her head. “I’ll make sure of it.” Another soft kiss. “Come on, M’lady, let's get you home.”

“I’ll escort Her Majesty home,” Byron offered far too quick for Robins taste as they walked towards the door, knowing she was far too emotional to use her magic to transport both of them.

“You’re not getting anywhere near her.”

“You can’t just leave on your first day of work! Boy! Boy, don’t you walk away from me!” Byron stormed up to the couple and grabbed Robin by the shoulder, twisting him around to face him. “Do you remember what happened last time you tried that?”

“I am not a child anymore! You cannot force me to stand in one pot for two days just so you can get off on torturing me!”

He raised his arm as though to strike him. “Don’t you DARE raise your voice to me! I am your-!”

His words were cut off rather suddenly however. He gripped at his throat scratching and clawing as if that could somehow bring oxygen in. Robin looked over at the brown eyed queen, the stormy anger crossed eight the tears that was still falling from her memories of Daniel almost frightened the thief clenching her fingers together in the same way she once used on him when they first met.

“Threaten him again!” she snarled dangerously, sparks flying from her fingertips. “Threaten him again and I swear on my own life I will throw you into that river!”

She held on for a moment later before she released him, watching in disgust as he fell to the ground gasping for air. 

“That might not kill me,” he gasped as he held his throat. “But that still is VERY painful, Your Majesty!”

“Good!” 

She turned towards Robin who was holding back a smirk, the evil queen mask melting into hopeless and depression and every feeling she wore before Byron had threatened her soulmate. “Can we please leave?”

“I think that’s a great idea, M’lady.”

Without a single look back towards the older man the two of them headed out.

 

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